Glory to the Doom Slayer
by alleincorrax
Summary: d[OOM] route
1. Chapter I - Part 1

A long sword came down upon the rusted chassis of a small stubby, cutting through metal and severing its head from the rest of its body. Red eyes stared furiously at 2B one last time before they lost their light, rendering utterly black and devoided of life. The remains fell on the ground with a soft thud, staining the grass with murky oil. 2B stared at her kill blankly, her eyes concealed beneath her black blindfold, betraying neither what she was seeing nor her feelings. At her hand, she was holding the handle of **[Virtuous Treaty]**, the pure blade of the katana reflecting the sunbeams, creating a peculiar spectacle of lights over the corpses of a dozen machine lifeforms.

2B inspected the rest of the corpses, soaking in the carnage she had unleashed in her enemies, noting how inferior they were in comparison to her and yet, had attempted to bring her down with the little power they had. They had come up front, without any sort of plan or strategy to restrain her movements, diminish her battle potential, or even maximize the environment of the city ruins. They have simply rushed as fast as they could, flailing their pathetic arms wildly, hoping to hit her. Even know, 2B wondered what was going through their heads when they decided to attack her like this: Clearly, they knew there was no hope in their attempt… Yet, they did it nonetheless.

Why?

Were they expecting to actually succeed? Was this just a plan of some grand scheme she couldn't see? What drove them to, as humans would say, commit suicide? Perhaps a virus corroding their limited sense of logic? Or they were meant to test her prowess and get as much data as they could? Or maybe madness had finally taken over them and reduced them to the baseless killing machines YoRHa has claimed they were?

2B had many questions… Sadly, most of those questions would forever remain hidden in the vell of shadows: Mysteries meant to never be solved, unknows hiding away in the corners of the world, whispers confusing her path.

Things meant to destroy the precarious peace she currently had.

Android YoRHa No.2 Type B sighed, tired of always asking herself the same questions over and over again. It couldn't be helped: After a few hundreds of years doing the same thing, boredom drove her to amuse herself, dwelling into the morbid secrets she held and rethinking her directives. After all, very few knew her real designation was not 2B… Her true name, as well as her primary objective, would remain classified so long as Commander White said so. But with time, questions would arise from within her mind: Dangerous questions meant to destroy her fragile world and unleash horrors beyond belief upon the small fantasy all androids lived.

But then again, Android YoRHa No.2 Type B was still a good soldier at her core. Her directives made her unable to disobey orders and stray from the scenarios created by Command. Until the end of times, she would keep following her orders zealously. Her objectives and target were clear and there was no room for mistakes.

She was made to succeed.

Failure was not an option.

"_Attention: All hostile mechanical lifeforms have been dispatched"_Her pod chimed in, hovering just behind her back _"Mission complete. Suggestion: Return to the resistance camp and inform Anemone."_

"Understood" 2B conceded, turning around and making her way towards the camp "9S, I have finished here, what about you?" Suddenly, her pod began displaying a holographic screen with the portrait of a young, white-haired boy wearing black clothes and a blindfold like her.

"_Ah! Miss 2B! I have finished here as well. Gotta say, these things were not a real challenge for me! Almost makes me wonder if this was a victory at all."_ The boy spoke merrily, a hint of smugness lingering in his voice.

"Arrogance is something unacceptable in a soldier. Having excessive confidence in your own skills will get you killed one day" 2B chastised, her cold voice capable of freezing the water under her heels as she passed a small pond.

"_Yes, yes; Being humble and all that jazz."_ And yet, 9S simply disregarded her hard words, already used to her _"I will be sure to be careful, Miss 2-B!"_ The boy chirped.

"I hope so… Also, 9S?"

"_Yes, Miss 2B"_

"Stop calling me miss."

"_Oh! Well, that is…"_ The boy seemed clearly taken aback by her request _"If that is what you want, Mis-Not that. 2B, I will stop calling you Miss"_ The boy gave her a small smile _"Ah! But in return, how about you start calling me Nines! Everyone at the bunker calls me that and I believe we are close enough to-"_

"I will see you at the camp." 2B cut him off.

"_Wha-?! Wait! That is not f-_" And the pod ended the transmission.

2B allowed herself a small smirk for successfully teasing the boy; 9S was quite capable but sometimes he was just unbearable to deal with: She knew the "S" series were the best YoRHa had to offer but sometimes she wondered if there was something wrong with their personality programs. Androids were not supposed to be this annoying… Well, not that she could say anything on the matter considering she was not what she appeared to be. Once again, dull voices whispered visions of the future to come as she walked through the deserted ruins of the city.

Herds of boars, deer, and moose ran through the plains without restraint and birds flew in the open sky. 2B sparred a glance at the blue celestial vault above her, wondering if there was an error in her system… No, there wasn't. She herself knew there was nothing wrong with her.

The entire world was wrong. She knew this to be true: YoRHa, the mechanic lifeforms, the resistance, her fellow android comrades, the humans hiding in the moon. Everything was wrong… And there was nothing she could do to solve it.

Bouts of depression blossomed in her mind, slowly torturing and driving her mad.

She would need to do a scan on herself once she was back at the Bunker. These small episodes would hinder her overall performance.

A loud ringing coming from her pod told her there was an incoming transmission. Her pod hovered right in front of her and displayed the portrait of a blonde woman wearing a white dress.

"2B here"

"_Attention to all YoRHa units on the planet, this is an extraordinary transmission broadcasted to all active allied forces"_ Commander White spoke, her usual calm and controlled demeanor morphed into nervousness and uncertainty. That couldn't be good _"Our satellites have detected a humongous power spike of a strange form of energy by the City Ruins near the Resistance Camp. There are no visuals on the site so we ignore the nature of this anomaly. As such, all available YoRHa units are ordered to investigate what is going on and report to HQ immediately. But be careful, there are large packs of mechanical lifeforms converging on the site, we ignore what is attracting them but it cannot be good. In case there is no other option, we authorize the use of lethal force. Get rid of whatever is coming before it can start. Glory to mankind."_ And the transmission ended.

"_Coordinates received"_ Her pod chimed in _"Marking them on the map"_

2B stared at her pod idly before she turned around and burst into a full sprint towards the location, her skirt fluttering in the wind as her heels clicked on the cobblestone ground. She ran through the plains, evading trees, animals, and a few patches on weeds. She jumped on top of a building, expertly reaching the rooftop in a display of pure skill and grace. Her mad dash continued until she was finally at the top of one of the tallest building. She was greeted with the sight of more than a thousand mechanical lifeforms converging in the largest plain of City Ruins. Stubbies, Mid-tiers, Small bipeds, Goliath bipeds, Flyers, Exploders, and a whole lot of other enemies 2B hadn't seen before were coming into a single point.

To her confusion and surprise, the mechanical lifeforms left an area clear; A perfectly shaped circle with no more than 9 feet of radius. 2B watched with interest as the mechs simply stayed there, staring blankly into space as if they were waiting for something. The android narrowed her eyes, wondering if they could feel this strange energy White was talking about: If that was the case, maybe 2B would need to capture one of those sods and have the Resistance take it apart and find whatever allowed them to sense this anomaly without powerful sensors like those in the Bunker.

And then, it began.

A soft hum reached her ears and her combat visor picked up strange sparks of blue lighting materializing from thin air: The sparks crackled, creating wide and intricate arcs, sometimes colliding against the machines and reducing them to smoking piles of burnt metal. And yet, none of them moved a single inch, not even when the phenomenon began destroying their comrades with ease. The machines kept on staring as if they knew something else was coming from this event.

2B narrowed her eyes, unsure on how to react to all of this. Something was amiss but she couldn't tell what it was… But one thing was for certain, she had a bad feeling about this.

"_2B! 2B! Can you hear me?"_ Her pod rang again and the voice of 9S chirped in

"I'm here, 9S." She answered without looking away "I am currently above the tallest building in the City Ruins and have a clear visual on whatever is going on down there. Where are you?"

"_Above you! Command lent me a flying unit so I could asses and study the phenomenon in depth"_ He answered, 2B could almost see him sporting that cheeky grin of his _"We are the only agents nearby but operator 21O told me a large group of reinforcements is coming: Some androids like you and me but Command even sent a few heavy hitters! I can't believe how wild this party is!"_

"9S, emotions are strictly forbidden during missions" The female android chastised, still not looking at her pod.

"_Yeah, yeah: Be cold like steel and stuff, yada, yada, yada"_ The boy retorted, causing 2B to roll her eyes _"Anyways, are you seeing this? That thing is crushing those machines and yet, they do nothing but stand still and take it! I wonder what is going on…"_ He trailed off, probably looking at something on his end.

"That is a good question: Pod, can you detect anything special?"

"_Analyzing. Error. Unable to detect anything."_

"What? Elaborate" 2B ordered, slightly irritated.

"_This unknown energy does not belong to any type registered in the archives: Sensors within this unit are unable to analyze its origin and properties. Suggestion: Operator 9S may have more success using the flying unit at his disposal."_

"9S, what do you have?"

"_Honestly, I don't know: All the data gathered makes no sense and these readings are ridiculous! Maybe if I got a bit closer I could- Oh, no! 2B! Be careful!"_ 9S suddenly gasped _"Something has changed, the power levels of that thing are getting out of control! Get out of there!"_

"What do you mean, 9S?!" 2B asked, noticing how the mechanical lifeforms began twitching relentlessly "What is going on?! Explain!"

"_I-I don't know! I don't know! It doesn't make sense! But I can tell something is coming! 2B! Something really bad is coming! Get out of there before is too late! You hear me! Get o-"_ The connection broke and before 2B could do anything the phenomenon exploded, blinding her with a flash of pure white light.

Her combat visor began adjusting to the intense light… And there, in the middle of the lighting, there it was.

It was a humanoid being, standing above six feet tall. Wearing strange and rugged green armor and a helmet with a cold blue visor. The armored being had the same shape as most androids did: Four limbs, two legs and two hands with five fingers in each hand. Its complexion was quite large, its shoulders almost as wide as a medium biped although his limbs weren't as thick. Its chassis caused 2B curiosity since she was sure she hadn't seen any machine lifeform sporting those green colors… She watched the thing simply float, surrounded by the blue sparks and lighting for a few moments before it was unceremoniously dropped, plopping on the ground like a ragdoll and lying there motionlessly, with its back on the grass.

Suddenly, the whole world was engulfed in silence.

2B could almost hear the mechanical components inside her body as she simply kneeled there, watching the green armored thing lying on the grass. The machines surrounding it were not faring any better, frozen in time as a few of their comrades were already reduced to piles of burning rubbish. The android briefly wondered if 9S or the rest of the YoRHa forces at the Bunker were suffering from the same symptoms as her, hoping they would regain control over their bodies and record as many data as possible… And then, the armored humanoid finally moved.

It twitched on the ground, its hands opening and closing as it shifted uncomfortably on its back. Slowly, it twisted its body and planted its fist on the grass, pushing itself up. 2B noted that the humanoid had not gone through the phenomenon unscathed as it got up shakily, clutching the place where its ribs should be. Its actions seemed oddly android-like as a few of her comrades had displayed certain behaviors and other reactions resembling human traits. Was that a new type of YoRHa android or Resistance unit? Unlikely, Commander White would have notified them. A new type of enemy machine? Possible, but since the other machine lifeforms did not display any sort of reaction upon seeing it, 2B was slowly discarding the idea… Then again, she didn't know if those things had learned to welcome new members into its group.

Finally, the armored being was standing: Its visor moving left and right, seemingly observing the conglomeration of machines surrounding it. 2B noted the humanoid's body seemed to rise and drop as if it was heaving, trying to catch its breath… Which was weird since androids and machines did not need any sort of airborne intake to function properly. As far as she knew, anyway.

After a while, the heaving stopped and the armored being was simply staring into the nearest stubby, its visor moving up and down as if it was studying the small machine staring at it blankly. It then looked behind it, noticing the other machines following its every move. Then, the armored humanoid looked to the sky before its head dropped down and his visor stared at its feet. 2B was confused with its behavior; She was half-expecting for him to suddenly assimilate every single machine present and become some nightmarish Goliath. But suddenly, she noticed something was not right.

It was trembling.

The armored humanoid was trembling: She saw it bring its shaking hands to its head, clutching its helmet as it trembled uncontrollably. One might have thought it was suffering from total failure and it had lost control over its body… But 2B knew that was not the case. No, she knew this was different.

What did the humans call it?

It was a reaction or behavior that came under certain circumstances.

Something animals seemed to display on a daily basis.

A gut feeling.

The answer came as the armored humanoid looked to the sky and roared: Instinct.

Her instincts were telling her to run away… But it was too late now.

Across her life, 2B had noticed how many androids and machines had a tendency to copy and replicate certain human behaviors, reactions, and other forms of actions to display feelings: At the Resistance Camp and the Bunker, 2B had seen a few operators and other androids engage in 'friendly' relationships and other borderline shameful deeds. Things strictly forbidden by command. On earth, the androids of the Resistance and the machines would do the same, mimicking whatever record of humans they had in their memory… But among all of them, the one 2B couldn't understand was Fury.

Sure, Love was another mystery. But thanks to operator 60, she could get the basics and simply scratch it as something utterly annoying. A disease she herself had contracted along the way but still couldn't quite understand. At the end of the day, 2B had decided to stop thinking about it since it only managed to hinder her overall performance as a YoRHa soldier.

But Fury… Fury was different.

The best example she could find were the enemy machines she had slain: The weak and pathetic mechanic lifeforms had attacked her blindly, without any plan, simply throwing themselves at her with no clear objective. 2B could recognize the signals whenever a machine was feeling anger: Excessive aggressiveness, complete disregard of its well-being, a lack of logical thinking, and red lights in their eyes.

But this… This was different.

Even with her poor understanding of emotions, she could feel rage, she could feel brutality, she could feel anger, she could feel wrath. A cold shudder ran down her spine as the armored humanoid kept roaring to the skies, exuding a primal fury no android nor machine could replicate: In comparison to this, the machines were nothing but faded shadows, a sad attempt to imitate this bestial onslaught. A feeling so pure and visceral it made her, the androids at the Resistance Camp, the machine lifeforms, and even those at the Bunker shake in fear.

And then it happened, a red and violent aura began exuding from its armor, surrounding him and growing as its roar intensifies. At some point, the thing 2B feared the most happens: The aura finally touches one of the machines… And hell was unleashed.

The stubby basked in the crimson energy began twitching uncontrollably; Its tiny eyes turned a bloody red as its small and pathetic arms attempt to claw its head. It trashes on the grass, rolling and shaking uncontrollably as oil begins erupting from its body. The stubby then gets up with unnatural agility and launches itself against the armored being, its face cracked and covered in dark and murky oil.

Before the stubby could even touch it, an armored fist collides against its body, making it explode in a display of brutal strength and savagery. Bits and pieces fly all around the remaining machines as they are bathed in the oil of its fallen brethren. The rest of the machines watch the mangled remains of their brother, sickly yellow eyes staring blankly at the devastating mess that was once a stubby. Slowly, every single one of the machines present suffer from the same: Their eyes turn red and they began to twitch and shake without control, releasing oil from every nook and cranny, and claw their bodies, as if they were attempting to gouge out something inside them. And just like the first stubby, all of them screech in anger and launch themselves against the armored being.

Their challenge is met by a flurry of punches, mallets of pure power turning them into scrap in nothing but a blink. The stubbies are basically flattened on the ground as the armored humanoid steps on them; The small bipeds explode in a shower of oil and innards; the medium bipeds lose large chunks of their bodies and are discarded like garbage; The Goliath Bipeds had their limbs torn apart and used as blunt weapons against the deranged army of crazed machines. 2B watches in morbid fascination as the green berserker simply plows through the ranks of machines, ripping and tearing them apart, brutalizing their remains in the most savage way possible. Sure, her sword could swiftly cut down any machine in her way but her kills were clean, elegant, and almost beautiful in comparison to this carnage; In some way, her steel had more mercy than the fist of this rampant being.

She almost felt bad for the machines.

"_Attention: Incoming transmission from the Bunker"_ Her pod pinged, displaying a holographic screen in front of her.

"_To all YoRHa personnel on site: What is going on?!"_ It was rare to see Commander White this nervous, and although it couldn't spell anything good, 2B made sure to memorize and record every second of it in her black box _"The energy we detected before suddenly disappeared and our sensors picked something else… Something way beyond our charts! It is almost as if ten Goliaths suddenly imploded at the same time! I want a status report, on the double!"_ She ordered, snapping her riding crop.

"2B here, I am currently overseeing the situation from an advantageous point near the anomaly."

"_Ah, 2B!" _Commander White acknowledged with a nod _"Excellent! Transmit everything to us using your pod! The data we are picking up does not make any sense! We require visuals!"_

"Understood" 2B nodded "Pod, begin the broadcast. Follow the armored humanoid and record everything"

"_Yes, 2B"_ The pod answered, generating a small appendage from its body _"Broadcasting to the Bunker and recording data for further studies"_

2B focused on the holographic screen, watching the exact moment when Commander White finally received the transmission. And was pleasantly surprised when the elder YoRHa android was not able to control her facial expressions.

"_W-What the hell is that?"_ She spoke quietly, covering her mouth with one hand and resting the other over her chest. _"2B… Who or what is that?"_

"Don't know. That green armored humanoid appeared once the first phenomenon passed. But then, it began exuding a strange red aura; This energy caused the machines to go berserk and attack him. It has been killing them ever since. I ignore its objectives but for now, it doesn't seem to have noticed me." 2B hoped it didn't; She wasn't sure if she was prepared to fight such thing. Not without information.

"_It's… It's so…"_ The Commander began, unable to look away from the massacre, her eyes following its every move _"Glorious…"_ She whispered softly.

2B found herself agreeing with the strange assessment of the Commander: Even though this was nothing but a display of brutality, there was a certain beauty in the way the armored humanoid fought: His attacks, although savage in nature, did not miss a single target. There were no wasted moves and his fists killed Stubbies and medium bipeds in a single punch. It was dominating, displaying a huge level of strength as he overpowered Biped Goliaths, disregarding their height and bulk.

"_2B! 2B! Can you hear me?!" _9S spoke from her pod _"2B! Where are you?! We have to get out of here! I have detected a large army of machines making their way here!" _That got both 2B and the Commander out of their daydreams.

"_What!?"_ The commander bellowed _"Oh, no! 9S is right! The armored humanoid is attracting every nearby machine! We must stop him before the machines overrun our YoRHa operatives and the Resistance!"_

"What should we do, commander?" 2B asked as she watched the humanoid lift an entire Biped Goliath over its shoulders and throw it at another, causing the two of them to explode.

"_We… We must put it down"_ White spoke slowly _"We must put it down before it attracts every damn machine in the entire planet! Attention to all YoRHa units on site: The Green Armored Humanoid represents a major danger for the safety of both us and the Resistance! Use any means necessary to silence it before it creates more chaos! Once it is down, I want every piece of it shipped to the Bunker so we might study and perhaps even replicate its battle capabilities for new equipment and armor! I will not repeat myself: Kill it and bring me the corpse! Glory to mankind!"_ She ordered and the transmission ended.

"9S, where are you?" 2B asked as she wielded **[Virtuous contract]** in her left hand, and **[Virtuous treaty]** in her right hand.

"_Flying just above the City Ruins, trying to make sense of this data"_ The boy answered, his voice serious as he understood just how grave the situation was _"2B… You are not planning on fighting that thing… Right?"_ He asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"Those are my orders…" She answered, standing at the edge of the building "I will attack head on and distract it. Use that opportunity to finish it up while it is focused on me.

"_That is insane! We should wait for the other YoRHa units! They are coming with several flying units and heavy weapons! You can't just-"_

"By the time they get here, the machines would do as well. Even if our equipment is superior, we will lose to the sheer numbers of their forces. And although we might survive, the androids of the Resistance will not. It is now or never."

"_That is-! There has to-! You can't just-!"_ 9S began, trying to find a way to dissuade the female android but found none _"ARGH! Fine! We will do it your way!"_

"Thank you… Nines."

"_Wha-? What was-?"_ But before he could continue, 2B dropped over the edge of the rooftop and began running vertically on the building _"THAT IS NOT FAIR!"_ She heard 9S scream in frustration before the connection was cut and her pod followed her.

Her heels clicked as her legs became a blur, going down the building as she assessed the situation. In all honesty, she wasn't sure if fighting it head on was a good choice: A single attack could reduce her to mere scrap and although she was confident in her speed and dodging skills, she still needed to look out for the machines attempting to kill it as well. She wasn't sure if the machines would notice her but considering they were completely deranged; a stray attack could hit her and distract her long enough to be vulnerable. Her best option was to distract it long enough for 9S to rain a storm of bullets and missiles from his flight unit. If things turned for the worst, she could always self-destruct and take anything nearby. Not the best plan but it was everything she could work with.

Suddenly, she kneeled and launched herself towards a Biped Goliath. Her boots collided against the machine, caving in and launching the machine towards the green humanoid. But to her surprise, the armored being simply swatted the falling Goliath as if it was nothing more than a nuisance, utterly devastating the falling machine and taking several other smaller units. 2B landed gracefully in the battlefield and was glad to notice the machines did ignore her, more focused on attacking the green rampant humanoid.

She was about to begin her attack when a dangerous thought crossed her mind: If the machines had gone rampant after coming into contact with it… Then, what would happen to her? Sure, as a YoRHa android, she was more advanced than the machine lifeforms or the androids of the Resistance. But as a surrogated "B" series, she was not invulnerable to cybernetic attacks. 2B still ignored if that red aura was some sort of virus or program designed to set off anything it touched. Getting herself infected was not advisable.

But she couldn't lose more time.

"Pod! Attack!" She ordered.

"_Acknowledged" _The pod answered as it began raining bullets upon the armored humanoid.

The pellets hit their mark but to 2B's dismay, did no visual damage. Instead, it only managed to annoy the green berserker, making it focus its attention in 2B.

"Alright, that was a mistake" She hummed to herself, preparing herself for direct confrontation.

She wasn't prepared for the armored being to dash towards her at a horrifying speed; 2B widened her eyes and had just enough time to evade its devastating fist, achieving a perfect dodge, phasing out of existence and materializing just behind the humanoid, ready to cut him in half. But instead, she was greeted with another fist right in front of her face. The android did not have time to process anything, simply letting her experience and training guide her, managing to once again dodge perfectly. Using this opportunity, 2B attempted to get herself as far as she could from the armored being, only to realize it was following her, matching and even surpassing her speed and agility. She wondered how something so large could move as fast as her but now was not the time. 2B couldn't allow herself to continue this pace; The enemy would eventually overwhelm her with its unrelenting attacks. She needed to do something to gain space between the two of them. She needed some room to breathe and control the fight.

The being attacked and 2B dodged but this time, the android dashed away. Not caring to see if the armored giant was onto her. She ran through the rampant machines, listening how the green humanoid was following close behind, plowing through the machines as if they were nothing. 2B did not dare to look back, fearing it would slow her down. Suddenly, a Biped Goliath came into view, swinging its long metallic limbs wildly at her. Instead of dodging, 2B slid between its legs, effectively avoiding its attack. She turned around to see the Goliath's fist collide against the berserker… Only for the former to explode, sending the machine tumbling and falling over 2B. The android leaped away, barely avoiding the humongous bulk of the Biped Goliath.

Landing on her hands, 2B rolled away as the fist of the armored humanoid came down, cracking the cobblestone ground under her, causing it to cave in. The android twisted herself mid-air, coming face to face with the berserker, her blindfold staring right into the cold-blue visor of its helmet. For a brief moment, time stopped as 2B starred into the visor: Noticing a familiar silhouette obscured within the helmet. She could recognize a jaw, followed by the outline of a nose, and a forehead… But what stuck out the most were its eyes: Even though the visor concealed most of its features, 2B could see its eyes very well. And what she saw would forever follow her as long as she was alive:

She saw fury: Unrelenting, brutal, and merciless hot red fury exuding from its eyes. Something that had lived this way for millennia: An ancient force of nature neither her nor YoRHa could hope to stop or even understand. Whatever this thing was, it was never meant to exist in this world. A strange unknown dropped in this fallen earth, a foreign piece in this broken board, a monster in a land of machines.

Frozen, like a deer in headlights, she watched as the green berserker rolled back its arm, preparing to reduce 2B into a pile of brutalized scrap. Even though she could see the fist descending upon her face, the android was unable to move, trapped in her own mind. Her pod shot defensively at her side, but its small bullets did nothing but bounce off the armor. Not being able to even slow it down. The fist was now an inch away from her face and there was nothing 2B could do to stop it…

She was doomed.

But…

"_2B!"_

And then, a black flight unit rammed itself against the armored humanoid; Sending it flying against a group of Medium Bipeds, exploding on contact. 2B blinked in confusion before she looked at the flight unit: In its biped form, 2B was able to recognize her partner and current assassination target should things turn for the worst. Instead of the always preset Cheshire smile, 9S was frowning deeply, his soft factions twisted in a fearful, shocked, and angry grimace, barring his teeth and almost snarling at the rampaging machines.

Seeing him in this state made 2B's core skip a beat.

"2B! Are you okay?!" The boy asked, still looking at the deranged machines piling on top of the armored humanoid.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine." 2B said, shaking her head a little and looking at the machines "You are late." She chastised, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Sorry about that… There was a lot of flying machines up there in the sky." 9S Explained. 2B looked up and noticed that in fact, a couple hundreds of machine lifeforms were descending on them, their eyes red but not shooting at all. It seemed like they wanted to ram themselves on the armored humanoid "I had to maneuver through their ranks; I don't know what the hell that thing did but it affected a large number of machines."

"Do you have any idea of what it did?" 2B asked as the pile of machines squashing the armored humanoid exploded, the green berserker emerging from the falling oil and broken remains, roaring once again at the skies in fury.

"No, I haven't seen readings like this ever. I can tell it is some sort of highly contagious infection, capable of rendering any inorganic lifeform rampant." 9S answered as he swatted a falling stubby out of the way.

"Inorganic? What about organics?"

"Don't know, I haven't seen any animals react like the machines… The problem is that I don't know if it will affect us as well: In theory, we should be able to overcome the rampancy but without running a test, it is unclear…" He supplied, his flight unit shooting a few missiles. The projectiles collided against the green berserker, exploding right in its face but doing nothing but pushing him back a few inches. "We should avoid direct contact as much as possible. Attack from afar or keep our encounters brief. I think I should engage it in close-quarter combat: My flight unit should give me the advantage and help me keep it at bay. Meanwhile, you can support me by getting rid of the rampant machines and attacking if possible,"

"I don't like this plan."

"Neither do I but you are vulnerable to that red aura." 2B bit her lip. 9S was right and this plan was the best chance they had. It would endanger the boy but without proper equipment, 2B was a liability. She sighed but nodded anyways; 9S gave her a short smirk before he dashed to meet this unforeseen enemy.

As the boy roared, his flight unit unleashed a maelstrom of bullets and missiles, raining his whole arsenal on the rampant being. The armored humanoid was hit by every single one of the projectiles, recoiling at the kinetic force of the missiles but refusing to back down or fall down. It roared instead and rushed towards 9S, fists ready to smash the boy into smithereens. The boy groaned and deployed the energy sword within the flight unit, the cackling yellow blade came to life and 9S swung it in a wide arc, attempting to cleave the crazed armored being in one go. The sword hit its mark but was unable to pierce the armor. 9S could only stare in disbelief as the high-powered energy blade capable of cutting Goliaths plating in half couldn't even leave a nick in the green rugged armor, leaving himself open for the humanoid to grab the offending appendage and simply rip it out of its socket.

"9S!" 2B yelled from behind as the boy grunted in pain, clenching and unclenching his exposed hand; He had managed to release his arm before the green berserker ripped it alongside the flight unit's limb. The boy pumped the thrusters and he got himself away from the humanoid, landing by 2B's sides "Are you okay?!" She asked, worriedly.

"Yeah, just a tad surprised," He told her with a sheepish grin "I'm sorry, 2B; It seems like the plating of that armor is stronger than we thought."

"So it seems…" 2B noted, watching as the humanoid used the flight unit's arm to bash some more machines, the energy sword falling somewhere among the battlefield.

"We need to change tactics; If brute force will not work, I can try and weaken it so you can strike the final blow."

"You don't mean…" 9S nodded and 2B frowned "We don't know what lies inside that thing: Hacking it without prior knowledge is borderline suicidal."

"We have no other choice and besides, who do you think you are talking to?" He asked with the same cheeky grin, 2B rolled her eyes but nodded "Alright! Keep mister friendly and jolly occupied while I do my magic."

"Just be careful." She muttered before she launched herself against the rampaging berserker, her two swords shining in the sun while her pod offered covering fire.

9S exited the flying unit and breathe slowly to calm himself: Sure, he was part of the 'S' series and sure, he was the best among his peers but for now, he would need to abandon his arrogance and focus on the task at hand: This armored humanoid had proved to be stronger than anything 2B or he had fought in the past. As 2B had said, hacking into an unknown enemy could expel his end so he needed to take any available precaution and stop underestimating it. Currently, 2B was dancing around the enemy, barely dodging its attacks and countering if possible, making sure to never come into direct contact with the red aura. He noted her swords had as much success as the energy blade and made a mental note to request a bit of that chassis once they had defeated it… Because they were going to defeat it, 9S was going to make sure they did not fail.

Exhaling through his mouth, 9S brought up his arm and aimed at the armored humanoid; A long string of golden energy began pouring from his arm, turning and twisting in varying patterns, the boy grunted a little as he tried to get a mark on the humanoid, carefully avoiding his partner. Once he had locked on its signature, he sighed and looked at his pod.

"Pod, make sure to protect me from any of these uncivilized and rude machines… And if I don't come back, tell operator 21O there was no need to be jealous: I loved both her and 2B all the same."

"_Understood, 9S"_ The pod chimed in, unleashing a hail of pellets upon nearby machines _"Message recorded and ready to deliver should you perish in this mission"_

"That was a joke. Alright… Here goes nothing!" He yelled as a streak of yellow energy shot from his arm, successfully colliding against the armored humanoid.

At that moment, everything seemed to freeze in time and 9S' vision lost focus. He felt himself float outside his body and fly towards the armored being. He sparred a single glance to 2B before he dived into the unknown.

* * *

_Hacking always felt strange on itself._

_9S could not explain the experience and even if he did, only other 'S' series would understand what he was talking about. It essentially felt like losing his body and becoming something small and compact. Even with his programming and large experience in the matter, it was always strange._

_When he accessed into the armor, he was expecting the usual arena filled with enemies as he tried to eliminate the enemy's defense system and the central node._

_He couldn't understand why hacking sessions always reduced to bullet-hells, but he found them entertaining, so he was not going to question its logic. It made such taxing and annoying procedure fun._

_But instead, he found himself surrounded by utter darkness, standing in a medium-sized room. There were no enemies or anything at all. It was him and a strange construct of red and yellow outlines in front of him._

_These lines oddly resembled a button._

_9S stared at the 'Button' for a moment, unsure of what to do._

_He was clearly still inside the armor but there was nothing he could recognize. He guessed it was the difference between technologies. He shrugged and proceeded to push the 'Button'._

_He immediately regretted his choice._

_The button lightened up with a red hue and he noticed it descending. The wall finally came down and 9S was greeted with the most bizarre and borderline terrifying sight he had seen in his entire life._

_It was a large circular room with a small pool in the middle, filled with a strange green liquid. Around it, there were several grey cylindrical objects. And running among the 'Barrels', were the defense system of the armor._

_Pink creatures with small eyes, a strange biped monster with two arms and a large mouth. 9S had never seen anything like this in his entire life._

_As soon as the wall was done descending, the pink creatures began moving, running around the 'Barrels' at incredible speeds, growling and groaning with unnatural voices. Slowly making their way towards him. The boy cursed and moved away from those things, barely managing to avoid being crushed beneath the 'Maws' of those things. He ran through the 'Barrels' and the enemies, swiftly dodging their attacks and shooting at them._

_He noted none of them had used projectiles against him._

_He was deeply relieved but did not relax at all._

_His bullets hit their mark but seemed to do no damage at all, the enemies simply kept pushing forward, snapping the huge maws menacingly. 9S began circling the room, shooting as much as he could while evading the beast as fast as he could._

_Soon enough, all the creatures were following after him but none of them had fallen. Suddenly, one of the creatures strayed away from the herd, maneuvering through the barrels and cutting him off. 9S panicked, turning and shooting at the incoming monster, his pellets hitting its mark but doing nothing to the enemy._

_In his desperation, one of the stray bullets hit the barrels, and the world explodes._

_They are engulfed by explosions, a wave of heat biting at his shields and throwing him to the side, he huffs and finds himself wondering why he can feel this pain. Normally, the damage would be dealt to him after failing the hacking._

_Something was not right._

_The explosions died down and he looked around. The enemies had died due to the accidental explosion. 9S breaths in relief and checks his status: Although big, the explosion was only able to take one of his shields; He had expected to fail at that point but he wasn't one to make complaints about his good luck. He noted the disgusting and bloodied corpses of the enemies before he continued to the open path at his left._

_Going down the stairs, he came to a long hallway with two rooms at the sides._

_Not wanting to get surprised like before, 9S slowly approached the room at his left; He peeked over the doorframe but found nothing. He did the same to his right with the same results. Sighing in relief he hurried down another long hallway. As he ran, he checked the timer, worrying he would run out of time and be forced out. To his surprise, and slight horror, the timer wasn't going down… He brushed it off as another kink of YoRHa's superior technology over the armor._

_He ran through the hallway, eyeing the walls, expecting turrets and other enemies to pop out of nowhere but nothing came. In the end, he found another button._

_9S eyed the button suspiciously; Last time he pushed a button, he was assaulted by a bunch of pink things. He looked back and forth, unsure of what to do: It didn't seem like there were any other alternate paths… He still couldn't wrap his head around this peculiar hacking arena but in the end, he had a mission._

_He pushed the button and was startled when the floor began raising under him._

_It was some sort of elevator._

_9S reached the top floor and found a star-shaped room with two square constructs at the center. He frowned; Still no sight of the enemy node he had to destroy. Scanning the area, he noticed there was no enemy in sight. He eyed the squares at the center before he stepped in, happy the worst had passed._

_He was incredibly wrong._

_Suddenly, the two squares lifted revealing the most horrifying monsters 9S had seen in his entire life._

_Horrific behemoths with red skin and hooved legs, sporting terrifying emerald eyes and a maw filled with sharp fangs, with two unholy horns at the top of their heads, bigger than any Biped Goliath he had seen before. The two monsters roared upon seeing him, the first one leaping through the air, attempting to slam 9S with its gargantuan bulk. The boy ran to the side, avoiding the creature but feeling a scalding wave of green fire colliding against his shield, once again filling him with pain. He bit his lower lip and kept on moving, barely dodging the fireballs thrown by the second monster._

_He ran around the room, shooting at the monsters as much as he could: His pellets did nothing but enrage the creatures, making them faster and more accurate with their attacks: As he ran, 9S was unable to dodge a stray fireball, breaching his second shield and inflicting a substantial amount of pain to his system: It felt as if he was burning alive: He clenched his teeth, feeling the green fire burning at his nonexistent skin, scorching his flesh and biting his bones. _

_But he carried on, pushing the pain to the back of his mind and focusing on keeping himself alive. At this point, he didn't want to know what would happen once he had run out of shields and failed the hacking. Soon, 9S realized his attacks were futile: Whatever these enemies were, they proved far more resilient than anything he had encountered… But what could he do…?_

_Suddenly, he was enlightened: Maybe his attacks were useless, but what about their own: Sure, his idea was crazy, and a single mistake could cost him dearly… But he was running out of options. It was now or never. _

_A gigantic fireball attempted to reduce him to ashes, but the boy dodged… And instead of running away, 9S dashed towards the monsters. The creatures were not prepared for his sudden change in tactics and were not able to stop him from slipping through their legs. The first monster roared and slammed its massive fist on the floor, missing 9S as the boy was too small and fast. The second monster kept attacking, wildly hurling their fireballs, stomping, and hitting the ground, struggling to brutalize the annoying android. Meanwhile, 9S shot at the monsters, methodically aiming for their faces, slowly herding them together and driving them mad. Hoping they would attack each other during their rampage._

_His plan worked._

_The first creature flailed a powerful fireball just as the second slammed on the ground with his fist, receiving the fireball right in its ugly face. The monster roared in pain and 9S capitalized on its weakness, shooting at its wounds. The monster lost it and literally charged against 9S like some sort of bull, failing to notice the other monster was right behind the boy, completely ramming itself against its comrade. The two monsters fell to the ground in a confused mess of green fire, groans, and blood. _

_The wounded creature kept slashing at its brother, blinded by the attacks, it was unable to see it was attacking its ally. The first creature, fed up with its rampaging comrade, kicked away the offending monster and sent it flying away. It got up quickly and roared, angered by the retaliation, and flailed a green fireball against its comrade but due to its damaged eyes, it missed. The first creature snorted and dashed, decking the blinded creature right in its damaged face, sending it tumbling on the ground. _

_The two monsters continued their quarrel, all while 9S ran around the edges of the star-shaped room, keeping himself out of sight and looking for anything useful against these monsters_

_His plan was simple, yet effective: Run around the monsters and have them attack each other. Sure, these monsters were dangerous but they acted disorganized, almost like primal beasts, guided purely on instinct. With these facts, 9S guessed he could somehow bait them to attack wildly, hoping they would damage each other in their debacle. He wasn't expecting for them to get so pissed off they would fight among themselves, but this worked in his favor. At least for now._

_With the current events, there were two possible outcomes:_

_For once, the monsters would magically remember he was still there… That also meant they would remember he was the reason they were fighting. They would give a loud snort, shake hands and proceed to disembowel him in the most gruesome way possible._

_GAME OVER._

_Of course, that was the worst possible ending._

_The second scenario involved the demise of one of the creatures; 9S believed the monsters would be too enraged to think logically, surrendering to their bestial nature and attack recklessly, resulting in the demise or severe crippling of one of them. Sure, 9S would still need to deal with the victor of this battle, but hey, at least it was one monster and not two monsters: A huge improvement in his current situation._

_Problem was, he didn't know how to kill the damn thing. His main weapon did little to no damage, managing to annoy them further if that was possible. So here he was, slowly walking at the edges, looking for something… Anything would do at this point…_

_At that moment, 9S remembered this was nothing but a simulation created by his internal systems, processing the security protocols of the armor, and meant to smoothen the hacking process, transforming the tedious task into a somewhat entertaining game…_

_What kind of twisted mind created something like this? The boy decided to not dwell too much in the answer._

_He kept moving until he noticed the solution he was looking for:_

_Barrels._

_Ten barrels lined up in one of the tips of the star-shaped room._

_Mixed emotions clashed on his face as he managed to both smirk and grimace at the same time; A plan already formulating on his mind, a risky and sure-to-fail plan but then again, it was everything he could work with. He nodded and slowly made his ways towards the still rampaging monsters._

_To his relief, it was not GAME OVER yet._

_One of the beasts laid on the floor, bellowing painfully as it tried to cover a bleeding gnash on its thorax: The other stood on top of it, a malicious grin spreading in its maw. Then, the monster grabbed its fallen enemy and lifted it easily. The injured beast roared weakly, a pitiful attempt to defend itself. Fruitless as the other monster simply grabbed its horns and pulled, tearing it out of its socket and eliciting a grievous scream from the wounded creature; The now hornless monster knelt, bellowing and covering its new wounds. _

_Snorting at the pain of its hornless former ally, the creature summoned emerald fire on its hands and slammed on the other creature, devastating its head and reducing it to a bloody pulp. The headless corpse then fell, a pool of disgusting murky blood pooling at the destroyed base of the neck. The corpse twitched a bit before it stopped moving._

_The last monster stared at his handiwork with a smirk on its face before it slowly turned to 9S, snarling at the boy and coating its hands with fireballs. The android could only gulp and hope his plan worked. The creature roared and flung a fireball, the android dodged to the side and began the tedious routine of running around, dodging, and shooting as much as he could. The creature followed, its demented eyes shining in the dark room as the emerald flames bit at 9S every time the boy barely dodged… But 9S could tell the creature wasn't as dangerous as before; Its entire body was filled with deep cuts and other serious bruises. His speed had been greatly diminished and it seemed like it was struggling to keep the pace. 9S could work with this._

_9S eyed the monster carefully, assessing its current speed and strength, calculating the best way to bait the creature into the explosive barrels to finish it off once and for all. But he had to be careful: For better or for worse, these monsters were unknown for him and therefore, completely unpredictable. So far, 9S had been lucky but eventually, he would fall. He was betting everything in this plan but he wasn't sure if it would work._

_It was now or never._

_9S dodged a fireball and ran towards the monster like last time, firing at its eyes and wounds. The creature roared in annoyance and attempted to flatten the boy with its vicious hoof: The boy dodged and kept circling the monster, firing when possible and evading its deranged attacks. At some point, the beast roared again and leaped into the air, slamming the ground with its humongous bulk and creating an unholy shockwave of emerald fire. _

_9S barely managed to avoid the attack and new it was time: The creature was heaving, tired from chasing 9S and from its wounds, ready to do anything to finish the annoying android. _

_The boy nodded and ran towards the barrels, making sure to stay right in the middle of them all. He glared at the monster and shoot a single pellet, hitting it right in the middle of its eyes. The creature grunted and returned the glare… And for a long moment, none of the two did nothing but glare at each other in complete silence._

_9S trembled as the emerald eyes of the creature bore in his blindfold, his mind running one and a million simulations on the outcomes of his plan… Almost all of them ended up in a gruesome and painful death._

_In hindsight, his plan was filled with many flaws: He was hoping he could enrage the monster to such degree It would chase him to the barrels, causing them to explode and blow it to kingdom come…_

_But what if the monster was smarter and had already seen through him? What if it decided to simply use a fireball instead of charging? What if it was more resilient than 9S had believed and survived the explosion? What if 9S succeeded but the explosion killed him?_

_What would happen to him if he failed?_

_A pit formed in his stomach as 9S waited, trying his damn best to not crack under the merciless glare of the monster, feeling every single joint in his body trembling with each ragged breath. The monster seemed unfazed, its emerald and malevolent eyes piercing his body and gazing unto his mind, slowly torturing him into madness._

_And finally, the monster broke the stalemate: It roared and ignited its claws in emerald fire._

_9S felt himself stop breathing as the unforgiving flames came to be, preparing himself to dash as fast as he could, away from the murderous barrels and their unstable contents. But instead of launching its fire, the creature began running, building momentum as it snarled and bore its fangs, promising nothing but a world of pain for the boy. At some point, the creature leaped, its claws completely engulfed in the emerald flames… And 9S couldn't help but smirk._

_His plan worked._

_As the creature came down, 9S ran as fast as he could, away from the deadly trap. The creature hit the ground, a shockwave of fire hitting the barrels and igniting them in a blazing inferno, the monster screeching in shock and pain as the maelstrom engulfed it entirely. 9S felt himself fly through the air like a ragdoll as the shockwave hit him, grunting once he collided with the ground._

_The boy bounced on the ground but managed to pick himself up to see the result of his plan: An entire section of the room was burning with fire, the mid-section of the creature lying just before him, its empty eyes staring into the nothingness with a trail of blood coming from its mouth. 9S watched the remains for a bit before he got up, his entire body sore and stiff. The boy sighed in relief, satisfied his plan worked until he noticed a small detail…_

_He was out of shields._

_The shockwave had shattered his last shield… But he hadn't failed the mission._

_He hadn't been forcefully ejected from the system, dealing massive damage to his physical body outside. _

_Something wasn't right._

_Suddenly, the walls slowly descended, revealing a desolated area with nothing but a single platform in the middle of it. 9S walked at the edge of the now transformed gallery, inspecting the fogged landscape at the distance, a collection of snowy mountains under a grey sky. The android watched the endless void above him, unsure of how to understand this bizarre view. Across his life, he had met strange environments during his hacking sessions… But nothing like this: An alien world populated by unholy creatures. _

_Just what the hell is that green hulking armor?_

_After making sure he wasn't going to disappear, he walked the edge of the gallery and inspected the lone platform in the deserted area. He turned left and right, making sure there were no more horrors hiding in the corners. And after breathing deeply, he jumped down. His shoes hit the hard dirt, eliciting an echo that ran across the now empty facility. The boy inspected his surroundings again before he slowly walked towards the weird platform._

_Once he was close enough, he noticed a button at the side. 9S glared at the button, already feeling like he was walking into a trap. But sadly, there was no other path he could take: Even though he had defeated the enemies, he was still trapped in the simulation. With nothing left to do, he had to move forward and survive anything they threw at him._

_He pushed the button and was surprised to see when the steps of a stair began elevating slowly, The android watched the whole procedure with curiosity and once it was completed, he climbed up the steps, making sure to test the ground before continuing. At the top, he found a square with the drawing of a strange horned creature and a star-shaped drawing on it. 9S eyed the drawing suspiciously, trying to decipher what it meant but finding no results. He turned around and eyed the structure behind him: The corpse of the creature was still burning, its remains feeding the fire and causing it to extend towards the other corpse._

_For a brief moment, 9S allowed himself to feel horrified at how bizarre this simulation was: The gruesome details of the security system made him shiver in fright, wondering what kind of sick mind could have designed such horrifying things. These were not mere geometric figures, designed to be efficient. No, this was something else, something akin to the most twisted human minds recorded in the archive of YoRHa._

_The boy gulped and stared at the tile in front of him; Clearly, he was not done with the hacking so the rest of the puzzle existed somewhere in this simulation. The building behind him worked as the first 'level'. That meant there were more staged to clear before he was done. Although ridiculous, this explanation gave him some relief… He just wondered if he would recover his shields after crossing to the next level._

_He eyed the symbol one last time before he breathed slowly and stepped on it…_

_He regretted his choice dearly._

_As soon as his foot made contact with the tile, he felt his entire being shake to the core; A ripple of foreign energy extended all across his body, penetrating his limbs and reaching for his consciousness. And then, it began; A sharp and unbearable pain filled his entire being, cutting through his limbs and nervous system. His outer shell began cracking and broke away, turning into dust as a green vortex consumed it. As he faded into nothingness, 9S screamed, his deranged voice breaking through the void even as there was nothing left of him but particles floating in the ether._

_And then, he simply fell on his knees._

_The horrible event couldn't have taken more than half a second and yet, the boy felt as if he had been tortured for more than a hundred years. He heaved, gagged, and gasped, doing his damn best to clear his mind from the pain he had felt. He had never experienced anything like that, to feel every single atom in his body being ripped away, it had to be the worst thing he had felt so far… And he wasn't keen on experiencing it ever again. He slowly raised his trembling arm and watched his arms shake uncontrollably, such behavior was completely embarrassing from an 'S' unit such as himself. He breathed slowly, feeling air expanding his lungs, he cleaned the sweat in his brown and got up, ready to continue the mi-_

…

…

_Wait…_

_Sweat? Lungs?_

_What?_

_Suddenly, the boy was frozen in place, his awareness extending far and wide, covering every inch of his body: He could feel a torrent running throughout his body, a warm liquid carrying life and the promise of something hidden away at the moon. He touched his face, feeling the thin sheen of liquid coating his warm and soft skin. His mouth felt wet, filled with a substance and an alien taste. Every move he made sent a thousand a more sensations to his brain, the overload of information sending his brain into overdrive as it tried to understand what was going on…_

_9S was… Human…_

_The word felt wrong in his mind; He had never seen humans but rumors said androids were the spitting image of what humanity is. Of course, his black box had been filled with information regarding humans, just like every single YoRHa android at the bunker: All of them were ready to tend any need the humans may have once they returned to earth. They everything there was to know about humanity: History, science, arts, philosophy, and even biology. And with hundreds of years worth of information, 9S was quick to recognize the strange and sudden change in his body…_

_He was a human now._

_But how?_

_He was no fool, of course. He knew he was still inside the armor, in a hacking simulation but this, this felt awfully real to be a simulation. And although foreign, 9S felt as if he had been a human from the very beginning. Born and raised in a time when humans ruled over the third planet in the Sol System. His musings were cut short as he heard a low growl in the darkness; He snapped his head and looked around him, unable to find the source of the sound. His combat visor kept scanning until something caught his attention: Two red dots at the distance. _

_The android watched the strange crimson lights shining in the dark, trying his hardest to peer through the darkness. He didn't know why, but he could feel his entire body shivering in fear at the sight of those strange red dots in the distance. And as he looked at the lights several more joined, creating a frightening spectacle in front of the boy._

_Suddenly, small fires began igniting all around the boy, growing in size until 9S was able to see everything around him… And what he saw froze the flowing blood in his veins._

_He was surrounded by a large group of strange creatures, lanky and horrifying monsters with red and brown skin, sporting long bones coming out of their backs. Their faces were devoided of lips, sporting dangerously sharp fangs, crowned by crimson eyes shining with a cruel light. The fire 9S had seen was originating from their hands, twisted versions of his own, with enlarged fingers and claws._

_Alongside these new creatures, he recognized the pink monsters from before, huffing and puffing, waiting for the right chance to strike._

_And beside them, there were putrified corpses. Human-like creatures with decayed skin, crawling on the ground or barely able to keep themselves standing. These fiends were growling, their visages twisting in unrecognizable painful grimaces._

_But all of these creatures had something in common…_

_All of them were focusing on the boy._

_9S watched the visceral in front of him, unable to understand where he was or were these creatures here. One thing was for sure, that strange drawing had teleported him here, in these monster closet filled with nightmares and horrors beyond anything him or command at the bunker could possibly imagine. He had believed it had been a path to the next level… But as one of those creatures grinned evilly at him, he realized his folly and realized how right 2B had been._

_This was a trap._

_And he had fallen right in the clutches of whatever sinister entity inhabited the armor._

_As soon as the realization hit the boy, the demons descended upon him: The Pinkies rammed themselves on him, throwing the boy around, breaking his bones and penetrating his flesh with its hard tusks. The possessed came from below, biting and tearing into his limbs, consuming his organs with ravenous delight. The Imps came from above, hurling concentrated fire into him, reducing his skin to a mangle and charred mess, slashing at his body and bathing the rest of the creatures with his blood._

_And even though he should have perished with the first strike, 9S was still alive, feeling as every monster violated and eviscerated his body: Claws, tusks, fangs, teeth. The boy felt how the monster consumed who he was, plowing through his memories and essence, corrupting and reforming him into something else… Something that should have not existed in this world._

_In his last moments of consciousness, 9S was assaulted by horrific visions: Tall towers raining blood upon a wasteland, ruined cities filled with corpses and other atrocities beneath his feet, unholy voices chanting for the dark gods lying in this hollow ground where demons sleep, planets corrupted and consumed to nourish the dark forces moving in the shadows, the slaves of Doom peering into other worlds, waiting for the right moment to strike and possess everything in their sight._

_And then, there was him._

_The voice in his mind gained force and the chant was everything the naive android could hear; Ancient words carrying the story of a man who stood when nobody else could, betrayed and left to rot in the pits of the underworld, a force of nature not even the strongest demons in the Void could stop, standing against the tides that had claimed many other more worthy than him._

_Neither the strongest nor the mightiest. But in the end, they all fell and he remained. And then the voices screamed in fear, their chant eliciting brutal images of the past: His righteous fury cleaving through the slaves of Doom, his merciless anger uprooting this evil seeds, slaughtering whatever dared stand against his path._

_For they are rage, brutal, without mercy…_

_But he, he will be worse..._

_rip and tear_

_rip and tear_

_**rip and tear**_

**rip and tear**

**RIP AND TEAR**

**RIP AND TEAR**

**RIP AND TEAR**

…

…

_Rip and Tear_

_Until it is done._

* * *

"**RAAAAAAAAAGH"** His crazed shriek pierced through the battlefield. The boy howled, clutching his head and falling to the ground, trashing without control.

"9S!" 2B bellowed in shock, running towards the boy and trying to control the deranged android "9S! What is going on?! 9S! Speak to me!" The boy said nothing, discarding his combat visor and glaring at 2B with a demented glint in his eyes "Pod! What happened to him?!"

"_Error: Unable to properly analyze 9S´ current situation. Observation: 9S displays behavior patterns comparable to those of the infected machine lifeforms. Conclusion: 9S was infected by the unknown enemy during his hacking."_

"I-Infected?! But how?!" 2B was no expert in hacking. In fact, aside from rudimentary concepts, she knew next to nothing about whatever happened during a hacking session. She knew the 'S' series had to somewhat defeat the security system inside machine lifeforms and other electronic devices. The concept was fairly simple but 2B ignored how it was executed; From her experience, 9S was rather quick: The boy was able to break through any cybernetic barrier with relative ease, boasting he was the best in that specific area. And so far, his confidence was well-founded.

Just what kind of horror had he found inside that armor?

Suddenly, the boy turned and began puking dark and murky oil, making 2B recoil in fright. The boy then clawed at his neck, scratching with such force he began to damage himself, tearing the synthetic skin and revealing his outer shell. 2B didn't know what to do, she simply kneeling there, watching as 9S became something she could not recognize, running over the orders in her black box, trying to find anything that would guide her through the right path.

Then, the boy looked at her and what she saw made her tear inside: He was crying tears of a dark color, staining his pristine skin, his eyes told her about his suffering, something beyond anything recorded in the archives of the Bunker. A pain none of the androids could understand.

Slowly, that cheeky and beautiful glint 2B had come to love slowly ceased to exist… And was replaced by a deranged red light, the same she had seen in the many Machines she had slain across her life.

The pained grimace was replaced for a crazed and angered frown. The boy bared his teeth and roared like a beast, leaping into the skies and throwing himself at the berserker like the rest of the machines. He fell right on top of the armored being, his right fist hitting it as hard as he could… But against that armor, 9S' pathetic limb simply broke apart, his hands exploding and showering the berserker with its remains. Then the armored being retaliated, attempting to squash the small new enemy with its hands.

But the boy was faster and more agile than the machines, skillfully evading the armored being's deadly grip, he dropped to the ground and attacked with his other hand, suffering the same results and losing the other hand. But even when his two arms were now useless, the boy kept attacking, using his feet to pounce on the enemy. His legs seemed to fare better against the armor but were unable to deal any meaningful damage, only managing to enrage the berserker even further. But this new nuisance gave the machines the opportunity they needed: The berserker was so focused in the android he ignored the other enemies, allowing them to simply overpower it using their superior mass. The armored being was unable to stand its ground and was buried by a wave of deranged Machines Lifeforms, losing himself in the dozens of bodies falling atop of him.

The boy leaped away from the machines and landed in front of 2B, his eyes completely focused on the mechs, teeth bared and snarling like a wild animal, waiting for his prey. 2B did not know what to do, part of her knew she had to eliminate 9S as soon as possible: She ignored how this new infection worked but she was sure it couldn't spell anything good if it had managed to corrupt 9S, the best 'S' series in YoRHa. It would be a matter of time before the disease spread among the YoRHa network, turning every agent into a mindless beast.

She gritted her teeth but knew there was no other way; There was simply too much to lose. It didn't matter whether she wanted to do it or not, her mission and the existence of every android on earth was more important than her petty feelings. With shaking hands, 2B approached her former partner, lifting her long katana above her head, ready to strike 9S down, her vicious steel will hack him down easily, nothing would be able to save him… Nothing but her own hesitation.

The boy turned around and 2B froze in place.

That was not 9S; The gentle and cheeky boy she fell in love with was gone and in his place, there was a ruthless and dangerous creature neither YoRHa, the resistance, or the machine lifeforms were ready to face. This beast wearing the skin of 9S was nothing but a soulless monster, ready to destroy everything in its path.

2B knew this to be true, but she couldn't help herself from staring deep into his eyes, trying to find the last remnants of his soul… There was no such thing, there was only anger, fury, wrath, carnage. 9S was dead, there was nothing left, nothing but the target 2B had to kill to ensure the supremacy of YoRHa.

"I'm sorry…" She muttered quietly.

But before she could strike him down, the machines behind them exploded. And from the falling pieces and broken bodies, the berserker emerged, roaring at the skies with renewed anger, its furious voice shaking the earth beneath its heavy boots, letting the world it was angry… And somebody was going to pay for that.

"9S! NO!" 2B screamed, trying to stop the boy but it was already too late. The corrupted android had already leaped into the skies.

His feet connected against the thorax of the armored being, doing nothing against the impenetrable armor. The berserker attempted to smash the boy mid-air but 9S somehow managed to dodge its deadly fist, contorting his body at an unnatural angle. He landed on the ground and launched himself again, his right foot connecting against the visor of the berserker, while his left foot landed on its chest plate, using it to push himself away from the armored being. Around them, the machines once again tried to bury the berserker using their superior numbers but the tactic would not work twice; The armored being was relentlessly attacking anything in its sight, its fist sending entire waves of machines sailing through the air, reducing most of them to mere piles of scrap while other ended up missing entire sections of their bodies. 9S was the only one able to survive, dodging everything the berserker threw at him but unable to deal any damage at all.

It was a matter of time before the boy made a mistake.

And he did: After a quick flurry of kicks, the boy somersaulted away, evading once again the fist of the berserker, but as he landed, he stepped on the discarded arm of a stubby, the mangled piece of metal made 9S lose his balance and slip for a single second… But that was enough. Suddenly, the boy froze in place, his face petrified in a rictus of anger and shock, his upper lip quivered before he opened his mouth just to puke a dark and murky liquid. He looked down and saw its massive arm penetrating his chest.

"9S!" 2B wailed like a wounded animal, running towards the boy.

The berserker pulled his arm out, making the boy fall on the ground with a gaping hole in his chest. In its arm, 2B could see 9S' black box; The cube looked cracked under its fingers but it seemed like it hadn't sustained any fatal damage. She wasn't sure 9S had done his backup before so recuperating his black box was imperative: There was critical information regarding the Machine Lifeforms… And in all honesty, she was tired of this sick game: Join 9S, follow 9s, kill 9S. Rinse and repeat. She didn't want to do it all over again.

But then, the armored being simply crushed the cube between his fingers, turning into thin shards. 2B watched the pieces fall on the boy's face… And she saw it, his eyes… They no longer held that crazed and furious red light. Instead, 9S was looking at her with his beautiful blue eyes, holding the same cheeky and playful glint she had come to love. The boy gave her a small smile before a heavy and armored boot reduced his entire head into a fine paste on the ground.

Suddenly, the world froze around 2B. The rampaging machines were silenced and she lost awareness of her surroundings. The world turned grey and the only thing she could see was the place were 9S used to be. Her mouth was wide open, quivering as she tried to organize her thoughts. A chilling white noise began growing in her head, making her entire body tremble. A current of electricity extended all around her body, making her twitch uncontrollably as her eyes traced the one that had caused all of this. Her eyes stopped right in its cold-blue visor, the features of the thing inside still concealed by the shadows of the armor… But even in the darkness, she could see its eyes.

And its smirk.

"DAMN YOU!" 2B roared in anger, unsheathing her two swords "I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!" She bellowed like a beast and dashed towards the berserker, hacking and slashing any machine in her way...

The armored being attempted to flattened her with a wide swing but 2B ducked under it, her blades hitting his torso, the steel unable to even scratch the platting of the armor. 2B clicked her tongue and aimed for its arm joints, attacking the place with the least amount of armor. But just like before, her blades bounced harmlessly on the rugged surface; Since her swords were unable to pierce the less guarded areas of the armor,2B was slowly getting desperate. Jumping to the side, she dodged a roundhouse kick and attacked its neck, the tip of her swords slashing against the base of its helmet. But once again, her attack did not yield any results. Snarling in anger, she dropped down and crouched, barely avoiding a deadly strike to her face. The berserker groaned and attempted to step on her but was tackled by three medium-bipeds. The machines began pounding on it, smashing their huge fist on the berserker before it obliterated each one of them with a well-placed punch. The armored being got up and scanned the area, looking for that annoying android.

It turned to the side just receive a pair of heels right in his visor, 2B drop-kicked it using every ounce of power her small frame could muster. Her attack was strong enough to make it tilt its head to the side but not enough to wound him gravely. But that wasn't her intention; It was brief, but 2B managed to distract it. And this was her chance to end it all.

Landing in a crouch, she dashed. **[Virtuous contract]** and **[Virtuous treaty] **trained right in front of her, ready to strike its visor, pierce whatever alloy it was made of, and kill the green demon. The tips of her blade made contact with the visor and she roared, willing every ounce of strength she had, using her everything to kill this monster and send it to whatever hell it came from.

But instead, she heard something crack and she watched dumbfounded as her blades soared by her sides. She looked down and saw what was left of her weapons, snapped in half. Her mind stopping as she tried to understand what just happened. But then, something got her out of her musing: The berserker's fist was inches away from her face and at this distance, she would not be able to dodge. So she crossed the remains of her weapons and braced herself for impact. The fist connects with the blades, reducing them to small shards but absorbing some of the impact. The rest was transferred to her hands, breaking her fingers and palms, delivering the punishment to her arms all the way up her shoulders, rendering both of her upper limbs useless and completely irreparable. But she survived, both of her arms were lost but she survived. She was sent flying across the air, colliding against a biped-goliath, caving in the thorax of the machine and bringing it down. The machine fell atop of a group of stubbies, destroying all of them and lifting a curtain of dirt.

2B groaned in pain, feeling every single component in her ready to break down and explode. She somehow managed to get up, her heels precariously keeping her balance, the chassis of the Goliath not helping at all. Slowly, she dropped from the fallen machine, her heels hitting the hard cobblestone and the remains of the destroyed machines. Around her, 2B could hear the rampant machines running around, shrieking and bashing themselves against each other or chasing after the berserker, she couldn't tell, the curtain of dirt kept her visuals blocked and her combat visor had sustained more damage than she had anticipated. Of course, with her entire arms out of commission, taking off the blindfold will be a titanic venture. She shook her head left and right, trying to get rid of the now useless cloth blinding her. After an unbearable minute, the cloth fell between her feet. Her beautiful sapphire eyes were greeted met the cold blue visor of the berserker. It was running towards her, crashing against any machine in its way, reducing them to small bits and mangle scrap. Even after all this time and punishment, the armored being had not sustained critical damage: The armor looked dirty, with dry oil and several pieces of metal sticking in it but otherwise, it was undamaged. It was unstoppable…

2B sighed tiredly. Knowing there was but a single option left: One that would leave her vulnerable, possibly at the mercy of whatever machine survived her self destruction, or perhaps open for the virus to corrupt and turn her into a deranged beast. She had seen what the infection did to 9S… She didn't want to end the same way: Her life hadn't been pretty but it was hers: She had learned many things, some were horrible secrets, lies designed to maintain this pathetic charade, things hiding in the moon and somewhere in the city ruins. But she had also learned many wonderful things, small and quaint things that would never mean anything for anybody but herself, those memories were her treasure, the days she spent alongside 9S, learning what truly meant to be alive…

"Pod…" She called weakly, her faithful partner hovered by her side "Can you back up my memories?"

"_Impossible" _The short answer almost shattered her _"Explanation: Your black box has sustained a substantial amount of damage. By all means, 2B shouldn't be able to speak or even stand as you are doing right now. Query: Requesting permission to record your final moments so this anomaly can be studied at the bunker. Future iterations of unit 2B might benefit from this uncanny resistance to damage"_

"Yeah… I suppose future me would want that…" She laughed mirthlessly.

At the end of the day, 2B and the rest of the androids were nothing but machines, just like the Mechanic Lifeforms. Their personality had been taken from a data bank at the bunker, programmed to act and react following a certain pattern. Their so-called personality was nothing but glitches in their system, errors breed from their desire to know more about the humans hiding in the moon, so the androids could serve them with efficiency once they returned. If only they knew… The thought made 2B smirk darkly. She wondered how Commander White could live with herself, knowing everything she did, everything she was, and everything she would be was for naught…

Because there was nothing in the moon…

Nothing but lies and machinations…

Humans had ceased to exist a couple of hundreds of years ago…

They were gone…

And the androids were alone…

Fighting an empty war for a broken world…

The berserker was now right in front of her, its fist ready to reduce her to mere scrap and broken pieces. 2B stared at the visor, wondering what dwelt inside the armor: This was not an android from YoRHa or the resistance, it wasn't a new type of Machine Lifeform, it was something that could not belong to this world… Something that should not have existed in this world, to begin with. These questions would be buried with her current self, she couldn't remember when was the last time she made a backup of her memories.

Well, at least Pod will have something to show her future self, something that would make her stronger than her current self, so she could fight this monster.

And that was all 2B needed.

The fist came down but it never hit her. She vanished right in front of the berserker and reappeared behind it. 2B jumped, her legs coiled around its waist and she glued herself to its back, where its arms could not reach. The countdown began, three seconds before she exploded, destroying everything around her, leaving her extremely vulnerable and open to any incoming damage. A high risk move with high rewards if executed perfectly… But now, 2B didn't have the luxury to plot a favorable scenario; This was the only option left.

The berserker flailed around trying to grab the small female android and reduce her to broken pieces, roaring in annoyance as the deranged machines closed on them. But it was too late; The countdown finally reached zero and 2B became light and fire, engulfing the berserker in her fury, crashing against the machines and reducing everything to ashes.

And as her conscious faded, 2B wondered what awaited her on the other side.

* * *

He woke up with a start, groaning as every inch of his body screamed in pain. His muscles were on fire, his ribs were broken and some of them were piercing his lungs, his joints felt like rusty crap, and he could taste the all too familiar metallic flavor of his own blood in his mouth. Yup, just a normal Monday in his books, nothing a few brained demons couldn't heal. One of the many perks his Praetor Suit had: So long as there were demons, he just needed to crush their little ugly heads beneath his boots, absorb the residual Argent energy, he would be good as new. Damn shame it only worked on him, anyone else would simply die and become a Possessed or some other atrocity.

He opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of a blue sky and the faint scent of smoke and burnt metal. Not the kind of smell he was used to: Normally, burnt skin, brimstone, putrefied flesh, rotten blood, and molten lava were among the things he was familiar with. That piqued his curiosity, something that hadn't happened in thousands of years. He slowly sat where he was, feeling every inch of his body screaming in pain; He was glad to notice his spine was mostly undamaged, he moved the fingers of his hands and toes, testing for the smallest delay. It would do him no good if his reflex were slow. But then again, he was not one to care for such small details. So long as there were demons, he would fight, even if his legs and arms were broken and he had no other choice but drag his useless body using his chin.

Once he was sure everything was correct, he got up, feeling his bones cracking under his weight. He knew he should feel concern over the loud sounds coming from his body but honestly, there were far more important things to worry about than a few broken bones. He looked around him, carefully assessing his surroundings and looking for any demonic presence. To his disappointment, there were no demons; So that meant no quick health packs for him. He growled in annoyance: At this point in time, he had effectively become a walking Argent Energy reactor. He didn't know how but he could produce his own share of the dangerous and unstable energy from hell. Sure it wasn't as potent or pure like what the demons had in their innards but it was more than enough to sustain him and his armor. Even if there weren't demons, he would eventually heal if he stayed put. But then again, he despised the notion of taking cover and wait for his health or shields to replenish before fighting again. That was a tactic for cowards and pansies… And hell knew he was no pansy; He was the kind of man that ran straight into the heat of battle, using his speed to dodge any incoming projectiles and healing himself by consuming the souls of his slaughtered foes.

He was just that much of a badass.

Now that he knew there were no demons, he decided to focus on more unimportant matters... Like the broken robots lying at his feet.

Some had large chunks of their bodies missing while some others were just a pile of scrap. The entire ground was soaked in oil and mangled pieces. Apparently, someone had trashed these tin cans and showed them how real men fought… Of course, he knew this was his handiwork, but he was wondering why had he destroyed these pieces of trash. He focused on his memories, looking for a possible trigger…

Samuel Hayden.

His blood boiled and his hands curled into a fist. That walking toaster had betrayed him, spewing nonsense about rebuilding everything from the start and how humanity needed Argent Energy. That kind of idiocy almost made him laugh… If it weren't for the fact that Hayden had ripped the Crucible out of his hands and dumped him into whatever this trash can was. He sighed and simply shook his head; There was no point in getting angry right now. Well, he was always angry but not seething with rage. he knew Hayden would eventually screw everything and the fridge would come for him, begging and crying to fix everything and save his shiny and metallic ass. He snorted at the thought.

But for now, he was stuck here. He couldn't feel any demonic presence nearby but that didn't mean there weren't demons hiding in the shadows. This world didn't seem corrupted with the taint but he knew it was a matter of time. He could also sightsee and find out what was the story behind the ruins he saw at the distance; Mother nature had claimed most of the buildings and structures and the place looked mostly deserted. Maybe this was the reason why this world hadn't been invaded yet. Demons only cared about highly advanced and populated worlds, brimming with delicious souls to consume and corrupt. Post Apocalyptic worlds with low populace were not attractive for them and were mostly left alone. Not enough souls to warrant an invasion.

If that was the case, maybe he could deal with the first scouts and save the little survivors this world had before Hayden called him to clean the mess the UAC caused.

He nodded and pulled out his super shotgun, the familiar weight of his old friend filling him with nostalgia: It felt like yesterday, when he was nothing but a lowly marine, fighting tooth and nail in the forsaken Phobos and Deimos bases so many eons ago.

He chuckled at the bitter memory, one of the few things he remembered from his past before he became what he is now.

A soft gasp caught his attention and he turned around, shotgun ready to blast the idiot that dared sneak on him… But what he saw gave him pause.

It was… Well, it was a thing, that was for sure. The thing had an uncanny resemblance of a human woman. A soft and petite frame, two mounds of flesh on her chest area, and the lack of a nob between her legs. But it was not a human woman, it was a thing. His instincts told him this was a machine, not like backstabbing space microwave but something else, something he hadn't seen before.

The android was… Well, it was attractive, for human standards, at least. When he was alive, the only woman in his life had been Daisy so he wasn't sure if his assessment on the android was correct. Her skin looked soft and pristine, a milky white he hadn't seen before. Her features were well defined and lacking any sort of deformation. Her lips were like rubies, not too big and not too small, just about right. Her hair was as white as freshly fallen snow during winter, flowing graciously around her head and face. She was wearing some sort of… Nightgown? He honestly couldn't tell what the hell that was. It looked like a long-sleeved top, covering her entire arms, with a small section on her wrists completely white and her hands covered in black gloves. A small amount of her cleavage was open to the world, revealing the creamy skin of her modest chest. And going down from there, everything became confusing for him: The other half of her body was covered by what appeared to be the lower half of a one-piece swimsuit, precariously concealing her privates to the world. Her legs were covered by black high-knee leather boots with the biggest heels he had seen in his entire life.

He was utterly baffled by the shameless outfit this android wore… But then again, she was not human so maybe her values were completely different from his. After all, even if Daisy was a rabbit, she was a dignified and prude lady.

Suddenly, his musings were interrupted as the android began to stir, groaning and furrowing her brow. He watched her with anticipation, eager to hear where he was and if there had been any sightings of the demonic invasion. He might be in a different world but that did not mean he would stop doing his job. The android finally opened her eyes and he was mesmerized by the clearest blue of her irises just like the sky.

But then, something changed. Her eyes dulled and she began trashing on the ground, tossing and turning as she shrieked like a banshee. She shot up, roaring like a beast, he back arched in an unnatural angle, and then, she puked a dark and murky liquid, staining her clothes and boots. He watched her, concerned but unfazed by her actions; This wasn't the most disturbing thing he had seen before but he decided to be cautious. His experience was focused on evil demon spawn so he didn't know what to do. The android finished puking and looked at him, her eyelids were crying the same dark goo… And in her irises, he saw it: A red light he knew very well.

Argent Energy.

She roared again and dashed towards him, her limp arms flailing without control. Snarling and baring her teeth at him. He pressed the trigger of his double-barrel shotgun and her entire legs ceased to exist. She fell roughly on the ground, her momentum carrying her until he was at his feet, growling and attempting to bit his armored boots. He kneeled and inspected her pathetic squirming body.

She was not possessed by a demon, that was for sure. Contrary to popular belief, demons were unable to corrupt machines. It was rather simple to understand: Machines were not alive and therefore, lacked a proper and delicious soul to consume so demons thoroughly ignored artificial intelligence and other robotic beings. Of course, if a demon consumed enough human brains, it might be able to reprogram a computer to display and follow certain patterns that looked somewhat demonic in nature. It was a nice tactic they used to torture and break down the spirit of their prey. Back on Mars, the one that had turned the entire base into a shit hole, leaving disturbing messages and making the cybernetic avatar spew evil chants had been Olivia Pierce, not the demons.

Argent Energy operated the same way; A Lazarus wave could kill a corrupt any organic being but it did not affect machines the same way. In fact, Argent energy could instantly fry most devices and render them inoperable. Unless the machines possessed a special unit to store and process Argent Energy, the machine would simply explode on contact.

So that's why he felt curious, watching the android trashing and spill more of that dark liquid from every orifice in her body; She clearly acted like a Possessed but there was something in the way she glared at him: It felt familiar, something he had experience time and time again…

It felt like…

His eyes widened in shock as memories flooded his mind: It was his fault. He was the reason this happened. Once he appeared in this world via Tethering device; He had lost himself in his rage, furious that Samuel Hayden had discarded him like common trash, disregarding the consequences of his actions and the countless lost lives at the Mars station. He was an Argent Energy reactor so it was possible his anger triggered a Lazarus Wave… But that still didn't make sense.

For once, the Argent Energy he emitted was not tainted by the demonic realm. It was a mere projection of his anger.

And then, there was the issue with the machines. Without specialized equipment, no inorganic body could store Argent Energy without exploding.

He eyed the android, watching as she pitifully tried to penetrate his hell-forged armor with her teeth. He then looked around him, at the corpses of the machines he had obliterated. With his memories clear, he now knew these strange robots had also been infected by his anger, he wasn't sure how, but it was the only explanation he could come up with. That was not his area of expertise, he only knew how to kill demons.

So know, he had a mission; Destroy the tainted machines. Of course, said machines will not be able to summon demons. But each one of them was powered by a Berserker pack and did not know how to control themselves; They could attack any unsuspecting human on the surface, ripping and tearing them apart just like he used to do with demons.

They needed to be stopped one way or another. This mess was his fault and he was going to take responsibility and kill every single one of those angry metallic bastards.

Starting now.

He looked down to the android, still uselessly trying to bite his armored boot, her eyes still red with Argent Energy. He sighed and shook her off, she snarled and attempted to reach his foot, trashing and drooling the same black goo from her mouth.

He aimed his shotgun, pulled the trigger and she was no more.

The buckshot utterly devastated the android, penetrating her flimsy platting and reducing her to scrap. Only her arms remained, which he eyed suspiciously, half expecting for them to leap and strangle him. Not such thing happened and he breathed in relief, that would have honestly freaked him out. He turned to leave but something caught his eye, a peculiar glint among the scrap. He kneeled and looked through the remains until he found it: A small Black Box.

He studied the curious trinket in his hands, noticing small cracks running on the smooth surface. It had somehow survived the buckshot and that impressed him, he pocketed it in of the pouches of his belt, wondering if he could repair it or ask some of this world's dwellers for help. Chances are the box hid some important secret.

He inspected the piles of scrap on more time before he nodded in approval, none of the remains displayed a single trace of residual Argent Energy. This area was clean but he knew not everything was gone, maybe a stray machine escaped the carnage; He didn't know if the taint could be passed down among machines but he was not going to take his chances, he was going to scourge this entire planet until every single one of those machines was turned to tiny little pieces.

He managed to take a step forward before he was flung across the skies as a barrage of missiles and high-caliber bullets collided against his chest; He soared the battlefield before he dropped roughly, he didn't even had a chance to look up as more bullets and missiles exploded on his face, slowly sinking him into the dirt.

The barrage stopped after half an hour, leaving the zone in silence.

Inside the crater created by the bullets and explosions, he was groaning in utter pain. Sure, his hell-forged armor could withstand just about everything: Nothing short of Argent Energy, plasma, or a nuclear strike would breach his Praetor Suit. But his body was another story; Even after millennia, he was still a human, somewhat. The precise term eluded him but he could be called human. So even if his Armor could endure missiles like nothing, the kinetic force would still wound his squishy body. The internal wounds reopened and some of his barely healed bones cracked again. He didn't know the exact limit of his healing factor and he wasn't keen on finding out.

By all means, anybody else in his position would have stayed inside the crater, waiting for the aggressor to leave… Wait and cower like a little bitch. He was nobody's bitch, and he was not going to lay on his back and allow anybody to shoot him on his back and leave unscathed. So ignoring the pain in his body, he pulled himself out of the crater and glared angrily at whoever was stupid enough to bother him when he was busy.

But his anger turned into surprise when he noticed who had attacked him.

Androids.

Dozens of them were inside strange flying things, hovering just above him. Some of the androids were identical to the one he had put down while others had some significant differences… But all of them were machines, he could feel it: The low temperatures of their bodies, the lack of a heartbeat, the unnatural stillness in their arms and fingers. An entire Task Force of female androids sent to hunt him down… Maybe the dwellers of this world weren't as helpless as he thought; If they could produce and send an army like this after him, maybe they did had more resources and numbers than he had expected… And that made them even more appetizing to the demons.

They simply stayed there, watching him carefully, their high-powered weapons ready to rain steel and fire upon him if he tried something funny. He could understand why they felt like this, his entry had caused quite the squabble and he didn't know if any lives were lost due to his actions. He could understand why they wanted nothing more but see him down and dead for good…

But that didn't mean he was going to just let them beat him to death. They attacked him from the back, like a bunch of traitorous scoundrels, and they were going to pay for that.

In the blink of an eye, his super shotgun was gone and in its place, the Gauss Cannon made itself present, the low hum of the power cell ready to unleash its deadly payload on his enemies. His little display alerted all the androids, sending them into confusion as they couldn't understand how a tiny shotgun turned into a menacing piece of metal with a blue hue. They hesitated for a second, awaiting orders from command… And that was all he needed to teach them a lesson.

The siege mode began charging and once it was at its peak, he released the trigger, sending and overcharged piece of steel flechette into the distracted androids. The projectile hit its mark, cutting one of the androids in half, before it continued forward, blowing the head of a second, penetrating through the chest of a third, and reducing an arm to nothingness of the last one. The flechette kept flying forward, colliding against a building, penetrating the concrete, and flying into the skies, where it was lost from sight into the vastness of space. He briefly wondered if those things ever stopped or would continue to fly forward for all eternity.

The androids starred at the damaged the Gauss Cannon had inflicted, dumbfounded and unsure on how to react. That was until the bodies of their fallen comrades hit the ground, one of them managed to control the shaking in her body and screamed, the rest followed suit, issuing orders and arranging themselves in a battle formation, their weapons trained on him, ready to blow him to kingdom come.

He simply stared at them unimpressed. They clearly had experience in battle but for some reason, were wary of him, as if they had never seen something like him before. He grinned beside his helmet, dismissing his Gauss Cannon and calling forth his Combat Shotgun and H.A.R. in both hands.

This would make an excellent exercise; His body was still slow due to his wounds but he was healing. He wouldn't be as fast as before but that would be a necessary handicap to even the odds, he would refrain from using the big guns, that would be overkill and he still didn't know if he could replenish ammo in this new world. He was probably making things harder for him but that is how he liked to live. He wasn't too young to die and he had surpassed every challenge in his way. Any obstacle was destroyed with Ultra-violence and he had become the nightmare of every single demon in hell.

And now, this naive androids will learn to fear him as well.

They will learn to steer clear of his path.

They will learn to respect him.

They will learn to never forget his name.

For he is, was, and will always be…

The Doom Slayer.


	2. Chapter I - Part 2

"Our enemy is this being!" Commander White bellowed, snapping her riding crop. The monitors at the control room displayed the image of a tall armored humanoid crushing a medium-biped under its boots while holding the mangled remains of a stubby in its hands. "We ignore how this thing came to be but we do know it is a danger we can't allow to roam free on earth! It generates a corrupting aura capable of affecting machine lifeforms, turning them into deranged beasts! We still don't know if this infection can affect androids but we will not take any chances, especially when the androids at the Resistance do not have the same resources YoRHa has! We can't allow ourselves to lose them; They are an important asset in our war against the Machine Lifeforms! We can't lose them! We. Will not. Lose them!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The androids in the Control Room yelled.

"Good! Currently, Unit 2B and Unit 9S are valiantly fighting this powerful enemy, and although I trust they are capable enough to complete any mission given to them, I am afraid this situation might be beyond anything they can accomplish! That's why I am sending you, our special response team, to deal with this menace once and for all! Glory to Mankind!" White finished, standing straight and placing her right hand over her chest.

"Glory to mankind!" The team responded, saluting as well, and leaving the control room. White nodded and turned to the monitors, watching the recording of 2B precariously managing to dodge everything the green berserker threw at her while her Pod rained bullets on its armor, the broadcast had stopped a few minutes ago and Commander White feared it wasn't due to interference.

"That sure is one hell of a Machine." A voice said behind her, White turned around and saw an operator walking towards her with a data pad on her hands "Or maybe, it is something far more sinister."

"I hope it is not… Any luck in the archives, 4O?" White asked, grabbing the data pad and skimming through it.

"Sadly, not much." The Operator answered tiredly "As far as YoRHa is concerned, that thing is even more alien and the damn aliens that started the war; There is not a single coincidence in our main databases and everything else is pure speculations and arguments devoid of evidence and logic."

"Is that so? What exactly did you find?" White asked, looking at the operator with interest.

"Just a bunch of works of fiction from centuries ago: Something about Space Marines and things like that."

"Space… Marines…" White tasted the words on her mouth, savoring every vowel and syllable; It felt strange but not unpleasant.

"Nothing but fantasies from a brighter era; This monster is clearly a mockery designed to attack the humans on the Moon. How did the Machines got their hands in such data is beyond me but we must not lose focus; That things must go down."

"I suppose you are right… What's the status on the team?"

"They are at the hangar, ready to leave at your command."

"Excellent, tell them they are authorized to take off," White ordered, looking as the Flying units began flying out of the hangar and towards the earth.

A grand total of Forty YoRHa androids were sent to kill this unknown enemy, a team formed of thirty 'B' series as the main force, five 'S' series and five 'H' series acting as supports. In all honesty, White wanted to send more forces but sadly, everyone else was already on a mission and she couldn't just call them in. Still, she was confident this platoon would destroy it… Or at least, that was what she repeated in her mind to control her anxiousness and reign over the cold chill running down her spine.

"_Lieutenant 27B here, we are entering the atmosphere_" A voice chimed in, making her jolt slightly "We will have visuals in a few seconds." That gave White some relief, Pod 042 had stopped broadcasting and White feared the worst. "_Approaching the site; Visuals in 3… 2… 1…_" The main monitor came to life and White was finally able to see the situation. "_Oh, no…_"

What she saw almost made her heart break:

2B was lying on the ground, her arms laid limp at her sides, and her legs were completely gone; Nothing but a devastated stump remained from where her lower limbs used to be. She was currently biting the armored boot of the green berserker, her eyes shining a terrifying crimson light, filled with nothing but madness and hatred. The armored humanoid simply stood there, watching her as an ancient double-barrel shotgun rested in its left hand, the cold-blue visor reflecting 2B's pitiful form trashing on the dirt.

"NO! 2B!" The voice of 6O filled her ears, making White unconsciously grab her riding crop, hoping the cold surface of her favorite item would ward away the crippling fear gnawing at her chest.

"_M-Ma'am… What should we do?_" 27B asked, the voice of the veteran filled with uncertainty.

"Where is 9S?" White asked, unable to answer 27B's question, for she herself ignored the answer.

"_We… We cannot detect his black box._" 27B spoke professionally, making Commander White tighten her grip under her riding crop "_I am afraid to say we have lost him, Ma'am…_" White looked to the side, her eyes looking for a certain operator known for her voracious curiosity for human culture; 21O said nothing, her face betraying neither her feelings nor her worries, but White could see her fingers tapping furiously at her terminal, her eyes completely focused on whatever was displayed in her terminal.

She was looking for him, White knew it very well.

"2B, No! Someone save her, please!" 6O yelled again. White turned to the monitor again and watched in horror as the green berserker lifted its shotgun and aimed directly at 2B. White wanted to bark an order but she was frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch as it pulled the trigger. In a single second, 2B ceased to exist, her entire body reduced to scrap with only her useless arms remaining, managing to survive the brutal and unrelenting force of the buckshot. "NO! NO! 2B! NO! PLEASE, NO!" 6O cried helplessly. White watched as the berserker kneeled in what used to be 2B and picked a small and cracked thing from the remains.

2B's black box.

"_You bastard!_" 27B yelled, "_Everyone, kill that thing!_"

And it began; A maelstrom of bullets, missiles, and energy-based projectiles rained on the green berserker, flinging it through the air, riddling every part of its body with bullets and explosions, powerful enough to reduce goliaths to ashes in mere minutes. The barrage continued until the humanoid fell in the dirt, where he was mercilessly gunned down like the animal it was, burying further down in the dried dirt. After half an hour, the barrage stopped, revealing a deep hole where the corpse of the berserker laid, hidden from view. Nobody said a thing while the special unit pummeled the berserker with everything they had, some were focused on the main monitor, watching in slight awe as the androids rained righteous fury on it. Some others had decided to help 6O, who was currently suffering a mental breakdown, crying and helplessly calling for 2B. The only one who was still working on her terminal was 21O, still looking for 9S.

"_Target remains silent,_" 27B said darkly "_Awaiting for further orders_"

"Well done, Lieutenant. I will send a recovery team to retrieve whatever is left and ship it to the Bunker."

"_Permission to speak freely, Ma'am."_

"Permission granted, soldier."

"_With all due respect, is it wise to bring that thing to the Bunker? We know little to nothing about this thing; For all we know, that infection could still be active; We cannot allow it to take root in the Bunker; We should just dispose of the damn thing."_ And in any other situation, White would have agreed with the Lieutenant… But White couldn't ignore how powerful that thing was; If they could unlock its secrets and integrate them to the next generation of YoRHa models. They would finally have the edge they needed to win the war… Or so the excuse went: Her real motives were far more obscure. After all, winning the war would mean humans could return to earth from their fortress in the moon…

And that was something she knew very well would never happen…

"_Wait… I am detecting something…" _27B suddenly said. The monitor displayed a magnified image of the crater… And suddenly, the berserker emerges, pulling his unharmed body out of the hole, sporting not a single wound in its rugged and inferior green armor. The armored berserker stood and eyed the YoRHa androids with its cold-blue visor. "_That's not possible…"_

"How can that thing be alive?!" An operator yelled in disbelief "That should have been enough firepower to down a gargantuan Goliath! Why is it not dead?!" At this, the room was filled with voices, demanding answers, speaking their theories, or simply babbling their utter shock.

Commander White simply watched the armored being in silence, both fascinated and horrified with its endurance, power, and skill; Across her long life, she had seen many strange and downright bizarre things, the truth about the humans was among them, but even with more than an entire lifetime behind her back, this was something she had yet to see.

"_What the hell is that?!" _27B's voice cut through the noise, gaining the attention of every android in the control room.

Suddenly, White noted its shotgun had somehow morphed into something far bigger and more menacing: It looked like a long and large piece of metal, split in the middle with strange blue hue emanating from its central piece. She studied the weapon with interest, tracing the shape of the strange object from top to bottom, finding herself mesmerized by its terrifying yet impeccable beauty.

By all means, this was a killing machine.

She could hear the platoon, asking her for orders but she simply couldn't comply, frozen in place as the green berserker pressed a trigger in the handle, waking up the terrible demon that was its weapon. The core came to life, humming like a beast and exuding a white light as if it were preparing itself to spew a hellish maelstrom upon its foolish enemies. White felt shivers as the weapon was done charging its unholy payload, and as she watched the armored being release the trigger, she could have sworn she saw the shadow of a savage smirk behind its visor.

"RUN!" Someone yelled but it was too late.

In less than a second, a white streak of light flew out of the weapon and collided against 27B's waist, cutting the android and her flying unit in half. After that, the projectile hit another unit, an 'S' series named 25S, blowing a large hole where his black box was supposed to be. It then blew the head of another 'B' series, killing 3B instantly. And then, it bisected 1H's, a member of the 'H' series, arm, making the petite girl lose control of her bearings and scream like a wounded animal.

Suddenly, every voice in the room died as the deranged and pained shrieks of 1H filled their ears, watching how the corpses of their fallen androids remained flying in the air, either by force of will or obeying the last command sent when they were alive. And then, one by one, the bodies of the dead began falling; 25S fell first, the hole in his chest causing a few of the Operators to turn around and gag. 3B fell next, the stump where her head used to be spilling a wave of oil on the dirt. 1H followed, managing to land roughly just to eject herself, and start trashing on the ground, holding the stump that used to be her arm, and begging for anyone to stop the pain. The last to fall was 27B, who remained on the air, her eyes concealed by her blindfold but with her mouth wide open, the ghost of the last ordered she uttered before she died. Slowly, her flying unit began failing and she fell… But as she descended, Commander White felt time stop for her; She could feel it somewhere deep in her being, a small voice whispering an unforgiving and cold truth she would have to accept: Words of power speaking from the depths, where the dark gods dwelt, peering through the worlds and stalking from the shadows in the dead of the night. The smell of death reached her nostrils and she knew they had committed a mistake: She didn't want to fight this entity, whatever it was. She didn't want to face against this enemy, no matter how much carnage and chaos it would bring to this broken world. For she knew there was no way she could win…

27B hit the ground and time resumed its course, with 13B, as the next in the line of command, barking orders, the rest of the YoRHa androids complied, surrounding the armored being, fury exuding from their bodies and their weapons promising nothing but pain and death.

And even with their numbers, the armored berserker seemed relaxed, once again displaying something akin to magecraft, as the large weapon turned into two: A Heavy Assault Rifle and a combat pump-action Shotgun, obsolete weapons from a time when humans fought against each other and killed in the name of their fabricated beliefs.

It was at this moment that White knew she would spend the rest of her life trying her damn best to avoid any confrontation, any battle, any war with this thing… But there was nothing she could do now, there was no way she could stop the slaughter that was going to take place in the plains of City Ruins. There will be no mercy, no surrender will be accepted. White could only fight tooth and nail, hoping that some of the androids survived, but it was but a fickle and foolish hope...

They were no longer in control, they were new to this, and **HE** had chosen their fate…

Doom.

* * *

"Kill it!" 13B shrieked, as her Flying unit spat a barrage of missiles. The rest of her platoon doing the same, raining bullets, missiles and lasers. The maelstrom collided against the armored being and it disappeared in a curtain of smoke and fire. "Don't stop! Keep going until there is nothing l-" The rest of her sentence was lost as a bullet penetrated her forehead and destroyed her cybernetic brain.

"13B!" 7S, her support, roared in pain "You will pay for that! You will- huh?" Suddenly, a small sphere flew from the curtain of smoke and hit him in the chest "What the f-?" And then the sphere exploded, a wave of shrapnel cutting through 7S, killing him instantly and detonating his flying unit.

"Fuck!" 45B, the next in command swore, aiming her laser cannon and firing at the smoke "Keep moving! Don't let it get a mark on you!" She ordered, hitting the thrusters and propelling herself upwards. But suddenly, a barrage of needle-like projectiles came out of the smoke, aimed directly at her "Shit!" She yelled, forced to do a rough turn to avoid the attack "Ha! I ain't that easy to-!" And then, the projectiles turned mid-air and homed in on her "You got to be fucking sh- ARGH!" The needles penetrated her skin, burying deep in her body. "Son of a b-!" And they detonated, blowing 45B to pieces.

"That is not possible!" 18B, the current lieutenant screamed "How could those things penetrate our shields and platting?! That is not possible!"

Suddenly, from the curtain of smoke, the armored being emerged, its weapon trained at the androids. 18B barked something and the YoRHa once again unloaded everything on it… But this time, the green berserker dashed with an unnatural speed, avoiding every projectile coming its way: The missiles simply couldn't keep up with its speed, the bullets that managed to hit it simply bounced on the rugged armor, and the lasers were swatted as if the dangerous arks of light were nothing but flies.

"How is it so damn fast?!" 20B bellowed in disbelief "Not even veterans can move like that! How can it be-!?" She was silenced as bullets hit her throat and torso, riddling her with holes and detonating her flying unit.

"20B!" 11B cried in pain "You will pay for that, you monster!" The android roared in anger, transforming her flying unit into its combat configuration and dashing towards the green berserker, her power blade coming to life "DIE!" She yelled, swinging the weapon in a wide arc… But to her shock and horror, the armored being stopped the energy blade with its bare left hand; The sword cackled against its armored glove, attempting to cut through the armor but with no purchase "That is not-!" But before she could finish, the berserker pulled and ripped her arm apart alongside the flying unit's limb, 11B managed to let out a single cry of pain before she was bisected with her own energy blade, her two halves exploding, bathing the merciless berserker in fire.

"We can't keep doing this…" 17S panted, landing and getting out of his flying unit "I am going to end this now!" He claimed as his left arm began glowing with a golden light "You are going down!"

"_17S, STOP!" _His pod chimed in, displaying an operator "_Don't you dare hack into that thing!"_

"I can end this right now! I just need to kill it from the inside!"

"_Negative! 17S, stand down!"_ This time, it was Commander White speaking "_Pod-153 reported Unit 9S tried to hack the armor and was infected by an unknown virus; This infection attacked his black box… He is gone"_

"I didn't hear any of that in the briefing!"

"_We just received Pod-153 report now! Don't do anything stupid boy! I don't need an infection attacking YoRHa directly just because a Scanner was unable to accept his limits!"_

"I am not like 9S! He was too cocky just because he was a bit faster than the rest of us! I know I am better than him! I know I-" Suddenly, his entire head exploded as a wave of buckshot hit him straight in the face.

"Arrogant idiot!" 18B cursed, watching as 17S body plummeted on the ground "But he was right; We can't keep doing this; That thing has defeated Ten of us already and we are supposed to have superior weapons, skills, and numbers… We must put an end to this right now!"

"What do you suggest?" Her partner, 72B asked, flying just behind her "We have already unloaded everything on it, hacking it is out of the question, and even with our flying units, we can't overpower it with raw strength; What is left?"

"An orbital strike from the Bunker…" 18B said quietly, "If we can distract it for long enough, the Bunker can unload the big one on it, reducing it to atoms."

"Do you think the Bunker will approve something like that?" At her question, 18B's pod chimed in, displaying the image of an Operator

"_Operator 4O here; Your plan has been approved by the Commander. But she wishes to let you know you will only have one chance. Nothing more"_ And the transmission ended.

"Well, that was convenient …" 72B muttered, glaring at the Pod suspiciously "But how exactly do we distract it? Even with our flying units, that damn thing is both faster and stronger."

"We do it as 2B did."

"And look how that turned out" 72B snorted.

"Do you have any other suggestions?!" 18B growled angrily

"No, Ma'am; But I really would like to go home on my own, and not in a body bag or as a freaking puzzle."

"Your comments are duly noted and I will make sure to let Commander White know personally…"

"If you survive, that is…" 72B mumbled. 18B glared at her but said nothing

"Alright! Everyone, listen up: There is still plenty of us but I get the feeling this tactic will not yield any results. As such, I have decided to try something else: I need Seven of us, myself included, to distract that damn monster long enough so the Bunker can vaporize it with an orbital strike! I will not lie to you, this is a suicide mission; You will either die at the hands of that monster or the orbital strike will reduce you to tiny bits… But it is everything we have left. The only thing I can promise you is that I will be there when the thunder comes." 72B rolled her eyes but said nothing so 18B continued "I don't want to force anyone to die so if anyone wants to join, you are free to do so. For the rest, 72B will become the new lieutenant after… After I am gone." She managed to say, taking off her combat visor and gazed at the berserker. "I don't know what you are, but I swear I will take you down…" She looked at 72B and smiled softly "Make sure they get home…"

"I know how to do my job." 72B retorted, turning and flying away "Hey dummy!" She called from afar and 18B turned to look at her "It was… A pleasure, to be your partner, that is…"

"The pleasure was all mine." 18B nodded and dashed towards the berserker.

Even though the wind was hitting her eyes, 72B never closed them, refusing to lose sight of her target for a single second. She knew she wasn't the best 'B' series out there; She wasn't as strong as 8B, nor was she smart like 64B, or as skilled and graceful as 2B. She lacked many qualities other androids had, and sometimes, she herself wondered how could YoRHa accept and use a mediocre like her in the war. Despite all this, she was not going to let some unknown thing defeat her here and taint the pride of YoRHa androids. She might be nothing but a weak android in comparison to her superiors, but she still dreamed about the humans in the moon, listening to their words, and obeying their every command… And this thing was a danger. No matter how strong it was, no matter how powerful it was, no matter how tough it was, no matter how fast it was…

She was going to bring it down.

"FOR THE GLORY OF MANKIND!" She yelled, ejecting herself from her flying unit and landing on the dirt, her **[Type-40 Blade]** hitting the ground, the steel cutting through the floor as if it were butter. She looked up and saw as her flying sped up, on collision route against the armored being.

The berserker simply dispelled his combat shotgun, making it disappear in thin air, rolled its right arm, and punched the flying unit. Steel met steel, a shockwave was sent her way as the flying unit was utterly obliterated by the unforgiving fury of its fist, crushing the flying unit under its own weight and inertia, turning it into an unrecognizable piece of metal, wires, and fire, before sending it back towards 18B. The android gasped and precariously managed to dodge the boulder that used to be her flying unit, missing her by a hair, and crashing on the dirt behind her, creating a medium-sized crater. 18B slowly got up, gripping the handle of her blade tightly, wondering if this had been a very bad idea.

The berserker simply eyed her blankly, standing taller than any android she had seen before. It then did something she was not expecting, it cracked its knuckles as if it was expecting a good fight. After that, it began walking towards her, its hands empty, letting her know it did not need any weapon to finish her off. And she knew it as well…

But then, a flying unit flew over her and crashed against the berserker, throwing it to the side. The green armored humanoid attempted to get up but another collided against it, exploding and throwing it to the side again. And then, another came, and another, and another and another until a grand total of twenty-three flying units crashed on top of it, burying it deep in scrap and fire.

18B watched the mound of mangled metal dumbfounded; She slowly turned around and what she saw made her smile softly: There were twenty-three YoRHa units ready to serve and die in the name of mankind alongside her

"24B, ready!"

"26B, ready!"

"48B, ready!"

"19S, ready to kick some ass!"

"142B, ready!"

"126B, ready!"

"20B, ready!"

"28S, armed and ready!"

"67B, ready!"

"59B, ready!"

"81B, ready!"

"43S, locked and loaded!"

"79B, ready!"

"56B, ready!"

"65B, ready!"

"80B, ready!"

"15H, here! I-I will try my best!"

"130B, ready!"

"46B, ready!"

"68B, ready!"

"136B, ready!"

"12B, ready!"

"123H, I will not fail!"

18B had to look down, so they wouldn't see her shed some tears. Controlling herself, she looked at the heap of fallen steel and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"For the glory of mankind!"

"**FOR THE GLORY OF MANKIND!**" The androids chorused behind her, wielding their weapons with pride and honor.

They were ready to stop this monster, they were ready to pierce its armor with their steel, they were ready to hack it down, they were ready to save this world…

Or so they thought…

* * *

The Doom Slayer found himself annoyed.

Which was something he hadn't felt in a really long time.

Across his life, he had felt anger, wrath, fury and other not so nice things. It wasn't as if he had a bad temper… On second thought, he did have an awful temper but you can't blame him for his short fuse; After all, he had been surrounded by the most infuriating bunch of blood-thirsty assholes, megalomaniac retards, narcissistic psychopaths, and a complete myriad of colorful idiots he had come to hate with his entire being, even more so than demons.

So imagine his surprise when he found himself fuming instead of exploding in a wave of pure and unadulterated anger; He was pissed off, but not enough to start a holy crusade against the foolish androids that protected this planet. Sure, he was still going to kill all of them but he was doing something he hadn't done before, he was thinking. Of course, he was no fool and despite his appearance and his legendary reputation as a deranged meathead, he was rather smart. Sadly, the blessing given to him by the Seraphim had condemned him to chase after demons relentlessly, disregarding anything or anyone in his way. It felt like a tireless chant pushing him forwards, making him brutalize any demon in his path, filling him with nothing but contempt over anything slightly demonic or unholy, forcing him to forget who he is, who he was, and what he could have been had the eggheads at the UAC minded their own business instead of playing with a ouija board.

But here in this land, the voices were completely silent… After several millennia, he was finally capable of listening to his own thoughts, to feel who he truly was, to know what he truly felt, and to do what he loved the most…

Killing demons

At the end of the day, cursed or not, those bastards had killed Daisy, the only family he had left, and destroyed his homeland, sacrificing millions of innocent souls to the dark lords in their demented conquest across the cosmos. When he saw Daisy's head pierced by a stake at the doors of a devastated human city, he simply lost it; He hunted and killed every single one of those disgusting fucks, brutalizing their bodies and carving his own bloody legend in the memories of the Slaves of Doom; Saving what was left of the human race, and allowing them to escape to safety in the vastness of space. After that, he had gone to hell, to keep them busy and away from other unsuspecting worlds.

But deep inside, he knew he enjoyed the carnage, he reveled in the intoxicating flavor of their fear and the taste of their blood. After stepping into hell, everything was history: Argent D'nur, the Night Sentinels, the Great Betrayer, The Icon of Sin, the Titan, The Seraphim, the Wretch… And finally, the UAC once again, and the circle was complete.

It was almost poetic.

To hear himself once again was invigorating; The Seraphim had him chained for far too long, it made the Slayer suspect she was a dominatrix bimbo hiding behind her pure and holy facade. He had never visited heaven and as of now, he preferred hell; They were at least honest in there, always trying to disembowel him like a pig.

Good times.

So it made him curious; No matter where he went, so long as there were demons, the Seraphim's song would always follow him, chanting ancient and powerful words, binding him to her, making him obey her every command. In front of her voice, he wasn't a man, he was a dog, ready to obey his master and do her bidding. In this land, she was gone… And that could only mean one thing.

There were no demons in this land.

Of course, that did not mean this world was safe: It simply meant its turn had yet to approach. So long as there were souls to corrupt, demons would eventually come. No matter how long it took, they always came.

And that's why he needed to find the humans; To warn them, to prepare them, to let them know there were far more dangerous things out there. Sooner or later, Hayden would fuck things up and the toaster would call him back. But until then, he had enough time to organize and train this world for the incoming war.

Or at least, teach them the most important rule in the entire multiverse:

Never get in the way of the Doom Slayer.

And sadly, he would need to make an example out of these dolls.

He pushed against the tons of mangled metal that the androids had so politely crashed on top of him. The Marine got himself up and eyed his next victims: A total of twenty-four: Nineteen women, three boys, and two young girls. He could see the rest flying away, retreating from the battlefield. He narrowed his eyes, feeling the proverbial slump on his stomach, telling him he was walking straight into a trap. He grinned under his helmet: Of course, he was going to let himself fall into the trap. He was going to let them believe they had him, and at the last minute, he was going to smash against any cage of whatever they wanted to use to restrain him. Anything short of a gargantuan blood temple would do nothing to him. Whatever they had in store, he could take it…

He had endured worse.

The android holding a rectangular and humongous sword, the leader most likely, barked something and the rest of the androids cheered. He simply cracked his neck, it was time to work:

* * *

**I've seen some folks doing this so I wanted to try**

**Borderlands 2 - Bloodshot Ramparts Combat**

* * *

He dashed like he always did, head first into the heat of the battle. The androids got away from his path, dispersing and surrounding him completely, so they could attack from all sides. They didn't know he was used to that tactic: The Slaves of Doom always did the exact same damn thing, and if this dolls thought they could succeed where a millenarian demonic and all-powerful race had failed, they would soon discover the folly in their arrogance.

The first to attack was a blonde female wielding a spear: A peculiar and elegant weapon, but judging by its design, it was a mass-produced tool given to the main body in the army. Strong, yes. Adequate, yes. Effective, yes. Deadly, yes. Now, would it work against the Doom slayer? No, not in this life or any other alternate universe out there in the cosmos: The tip of the spear broke against his hell-forged armor, its earthly materials unable to match the durability of demonic steel. The android had just enough time to realize she had committed a great mistake before a brutal punch reduced her torso into a mess of scrap, wires, and murky oil: Her puny chest exploded and the mangled remains fell all around the battlefield, an appropriate example of the destiny that awaited each and every single one of these dolls.

Another android, a female with short red hair, wailed in agony at her fallen comrade and slashed at the marine using a short golden sword with simple filigree in the handle. He grabbed the sword and snapped the blade in half easily, the stick surrendering to his iron grip; The female had her head pierced by her own blade, right in her temples. The corpse collapsed in the ground just as he blocked a peculiar long sword with his forearm, a katana if he remembered correctly. The wielder, a blue-haired android, was snarling at him like a wild animal; He returned the favor by stepping on her feet, flattening her toes into a fine paste. The android let out a pained yelp before he exploded her entire head with a well-placed jab. As the pieces of what used to be an android fell, a black-haired woman leaped with a warcry, wearing an interesting set of braces sparking with electricity. He snorted and met her challenge, his right fist colliding against her left, reducing the bracer, her fingers, her whole hand, and her entire arm all the way to her shoulder into nothing. The android fell on the ground, covering the stump that used to be her arm and screaming in pain. Her cries were stopped as a brutal kick snapped her neck, bending her entire head in an unnatural angle. Turning around, he backhanded a female android with short brown hair that had tried to sneak on him with a short silver blade, cracking her face. He grabbed her by the hair and forced her back; The android shrieked before her entire face caved in, courtesy of an uppercut that fused her lower jaw with her brain. He ducked under a vicious mallet that attempted to crush his head. Of course, said weapon wouldn't have dealt any damage but he felt like showing he wasn't just a walking tank, strong enough to take any hit to the face. He kicked the handle of the mallet, snapping it in half. He then grabbed the head of the mallet and squashed the android wielding it, turning her into a disgusting dough on the floor. Using the same head of the mallet, he blocked three swords attempting to bisect his chest and pushed, making the offending androids lose balance and fall on their backs: The first had her head stepped under his armored boot, crushing it like a melon. The second lost her head as he kicked it, tearing it out of her shoulders and making it fly into the skies. The third was grabbed by her right ankle, crushing her limb and was wielded as a makeshift club, crushing a boy with a longsword under her weight. He then slammed the android on the ground, a satisfying crack told him he had broken her spine, he let her go, knowing she would not move ever again. Around him, the remaining androids were keeping their distance, aware they were no match for him in hand-to-hand combat: It made him wonder what was their plan, and what was the best way to crush it.

Suddenly, a rain of bullets, small missiles, and lasers fell on him. They had changed tactics and attempted to bring him down using long ranged weapons: A respectable strategy, especially if they acknowledged they were utterly outperformed in hand-to-hand combat.

Will it make a difference?

No.

Their pathetic projectiles bounced against his armor; He couldn't even feel the kinetic force produced by their attacks. Truthfully a waste of his time but if this is how they wanted to play, he was going to humor them: The UAC EMG Sidearm materialized in his right hand, he took aim and picked his target, choosing a young and absolutely terrified girl with ashen hair, and pressed the trigger. His pistol hummed, signaling it was ready. He released the trigger and a small but concentrated, projectile of plasma flew from the barrel. The shot hit the young girl directly between her concealed eyes. The back of her head exploded, staining the floor behind her with whatever she used to have inside her skull; Her blindfold fell, revealing a pair of empty silver eyes before she collapsed, her short sword clattering on the floor.

The reaction of the remaining androids was instantaneous: They leaped away, their weird flying bricks still shooting at him with their laughable arsenal. He simply stood there, carefully lining his next shot before he fired again: A female android with orange hair fell on the ground, her left kneecap busted, releasing a wave of oil. She attempted to cover the wound but another shot blew both of her hands and then, her chest opened as another shot pierced where her heart would be, revealing the robotic components that made her entire body. She stared at her innards briefly before she moved no more. One of the remaining boys roared at this and dashed at him, his brick still shooting a continuous barrage of a strange light-based weapon: He was wielding another golden blade and started slashing wildly as if that would somehow help him achieve his objective. The Marine simply stood there and allowed the boy to struck him on his ribs: The blade collided but was not able to cut through the rugged armor. The Slayer grabbed him by the face and simply crushed his entire head, the now headless body fell to the ground, like a puppet without strings.

Looking through the pouches on his belt, he grabbed a single grenade and pulled the pin but he didn't toss it. Instead, he dashed forward and snatched the first android within reach, a female android with long black hair. He grabbed her by the neck, making her open her mouth in pain. In that short time, he stuffed her mouth with the grenade and threw her at her comrades. Four androids were caught in the blast of the explosión, losing their limbs and having their entire bodies pierced by the shrapnel. One managed to survive, barely: Her four limbs were gone and there was a gaping hole in her left eye socket, she was dragging herself through the dirt using her ruined stumps, staining the green grass with oil and other liquids. The marine ended her suffering by stepping on her back and blowing what was left of her head with a well placed charged shot. He turned around just to receive a punch from one of those strange braces in his face; A female android with short blonde hair roared and the braces activated, releasing a deadly current of electricity through his body. Of course, it would have been deadly for any lesser man, but in comparison to dealing with Vega's core, this was but a faint massage. He grabbed her arm and pulled, tearing her entire limb alongside part of her shoulder. She didn't even manage to scream in pain as he slammed her own arm into her face, breaking her head and sending her tumbling on the dirt. He discarded the arm like common trash and lifted his left hand just to catch the last boy by the throat, who was trying to slash him from above. The brown haired android trashed under his iron grip, uselessly trying to break free by striking him in the head with his spear and kicking his chest plate. He tightened around his throat but the Marine didn't just crush his neck or ripped his head out of his shoulders. Instead, he tore a large chunk of his throat: The boy fell, his head precariously connected to his body by what was left of his neck. He covered the wound and gurgled, copious amount of oil emerged from the wound as the boy uselessly tried to stop the flow. Slowly, his attempts became weaker and after a while, he moved no more.

* * *

**The music ends here**

* * *

The Hellwalker let go of the boy's crushed throat and looked at the remaining androids: Four androids were still standing, baring their teeth and holding their weapons in challenge: Three women, one holding a golden spear with feathers at the tip, another holding a thin and white katana, and the last one had a large rectangular sword. Behind them, stood the last young girl, with fluffy blonde hair, holding a small dagger between her trembling and dainty hands. She looked ready to run away and abandon her comrades, but she was still here, boldly challenging his might with her cowardice and pathetic resolution. It almost made him chuckle.

But it was not time to laugh.

As far as he was concerned, he had delivered a convincing message to whoever sent these dolls to put him down… But still, he felt like there was something missing: There was one last thing he could teach them. A valuable and painful lesson these puppets will never forget.

And he knew just the right tool for the job:

He dismissed his pistol, making the androids tense and then, their tension turned into absolute horror when his second favorite toy made an act of presence:

Back in the UAC, this was nothing but an industrial chainsaw, a piece of ancient machinery some psychopath had brought into the Phobos base, claiming the thing would eventually be useful once they were invaded by creatures of nightmares. The sergeant had confiscated it, claiming why the hell would they use a frigging chainsaw when they had high-powered and futuristic plasma weapons. Soon enough, the sergeant found himself swallowing his own words, and a few bits of demonic fire, once his 'high-powered and futuristic' plasma pistol ran out of cells and was overrun by Pinkies. The Marine hadn't been that foolish and had taken full advantage of the unforgiving and deadly kiss of his new chainsaw. But do not fool yourself, this USED to be nothing but an industrial chainsaw. Now, after millennia of soaking in argent infused blood and other supernatural essences, The Doom Slayer's chainsaw had effectively become a proper tool to rid this multiverse of the demonic scum: Capable of cutting through any alloy and material in any mortal, and immortal, planes. Fueled by his everlasting rage, and a reliable supply of ammo when his guns ran dry… Okay, he still didn't know why demons simply turned into mars bars and piles of ammunition whenever he killed them with 'The Great Communicator' but he was not one to question awesomeness; He simply nodded in approval and went to kill the next poor bastard in the line.

* * *

**Doom 3 - Main Theme**

* * *

And now, his tool of nightmare was out, proudly showing itself to this new, innocent, and virgin world, still soaked in demonic blood. He could see the androids beginning to back away, pure fear polluting their bodies, making his chainsaw twitch in anticipation, eager to once again rip and tear like the good old days.

The Marine grinned behind his visor, revved up his chainsaw and the old monster roared, letting the world now it was hungry for blood and flesh. The teeth came to life, spinning at vertiginous speeds, ready to bite these new and foolish enemies. The Marine didn't know if the androids would drop health packs and ammo but he was sure it would be a sight to behold. Now ready, he dashed, his chainsaw howling in delight, happy to be unleashed once again.

The first to react was the android with the spear: She met the marine and thrust her weapon, attempting to skewer the deranged Berserker. The Slayer simply swatted her puny spear away and stabbed the android with his chainsaw: The industrial blade easily pierced her belly, effortlessly penetrating her reinforced skin and eliciting a pained yelp as the teeth bit at her innards. And then, the Marine began cutting upwards, the chainsaw easily obeying as the android screamed in utter pain and tried to stop the chainsaw, grabbing the blade with her bare hands: To her horror and nobody's surprise, the teeth cut right through her pathetic limbs. The Marine kept going until the blade finally exited her body: The android was still alive, desperately trying to keep herself in one piece as her innards and oil fell on the ground. The Marine snorted and kicked her away, she fell on the ground and moved no more.

His oil-stained visor turned to the remaining androids, his chainsaw still thirsty for more carnage, twitching impatiently, eager to brutalize these new and weak enemies.

Without a warning, he dashed forward, chainsaw roaring in glee at the slaughter. He leaped in the skies and brought down his chainsaw on top of the android wielding the white sword: She managed to block but had to kneel under the strength and bulk of the Marine. The Slayer kept pushing, slowly bringing the android down; She was clenching her teeth and doing her damn best to hold her ground, her sword sparking as the teeth of the chainsaw bit at the pure white blade. At her side, her comrades were frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch in horror. The android yelled something and her comrade with the rectangular long-sword snapped out of her stupor, dashing away with her steel ready to cleave the Hellwalker.

Sadly, it was too late:

The flimsy steel broke and the chainsaw made contact with her pretty little head. The android screamed for a little bit before her voice deteriorated into an electronic bellow originating from her throat. Then, she simply went quiet and limp, the nightmarish weapon still cutting her down like an animal, staining the slayer and the area around him in fluids and scrap. Finally, the two halves of the android fell to the sides, sparking and bleeding murky oil, filling the environment with a characteristic scent of charred metal. The Marine eyed his handiwork: It wasn't as satisfying as cutting demons down but it was a new experience. His chainsaw still twitched in anticipation; Its thirst for more violence not quenched just yet… And to its luck, there were two more enemies to kill:

At this point, the young girl was on the ground, her blindfold completely drenched in her tears, her face twisted in utter horror, her hands trembling uncontrollably, and her blade discarded like the useless stick it was. The older woman was faring slightly better, holding her sword defensively in front of her, baring her teeth in anger, her eyes filled with disbelief and fright. She wasn't trembling like the little girl but the Marine knew better: She was frozen in place, too scared to do anything but wait for the inevitable end.

Slowly, so painfully slowly, the Hellwaker began walking towards them, knowing very well they were no longer a threat but a medium: The unlucky sacrifice needed to let this world, the humans in hiding, and any enemy lurking in the shadows know the most important truth in the entire multiverse:

Don't fuck with the Doom Slayer.

They had broken the only rule that truly mattered and now, there was nothing she could do; No power that could save her; No alternate routes; No saves files to load…

There was nothing left for her to do…

Nothing…

But fight like hell.

His chainsaw roared and he dashed towards the android with unholy speed. The white-haired woman had enough time to bring up his longsword and block the nightmarish weapon: Sadly for her, she wasn't strong enough: As soon as the blades collided, she was launched in the air, unable to hold her ground against the vast strength of the Slayer. She fell on the dirt roughly, rolling on the grass and mud, like a ragdoll. She managed to recompose herself and had just enough time to raise her sword and block another brutal strike from his chainsaw. Just like before, she was easily batted away as if she weighed nothing. On the ground, the android rolled to the side, just so she could avoid the teeth of the chainsaw by a few inches. She managed to recompose herself and faced the marine, her broadsword already cracked by the brutal assault of the marine.

The Slayer studied her briefly, somewhat surprise she had managed to last for quite a while, but knowing full well his next attack would break her weapon. There was no point in dragging this matter any further, there were a lot of things he had to do. His chainsaw roared again and he dashed, swinging it in a wide arc. But then, the android simply phased out of existence and vanished from sight. Of course, the Marine knew exactly what this was: He had seen the female android with white hair do the exact same thing when he was in Berserker mode. A neat trick, quite outstanding if you thought about it… But still not enough: The Marine followed her as she transitioned, his gaze never leaving the trail she left behind. And once the android appeared once again, his fist collided against her weapon, shattering her sword into pieces. The shards of the broadsword fell all around him just as his chainsaw came down, bisecting the right arm of the android easily; Without missing a beat, he cut through her right leg and part of her left. And just as she was collapsing on the ground, his fist collided against her dumbfounded face, reducing her entire head to nothing but mangled scrap.

* * *

**Music ends here**

* * *

Silence fell as the last remains of the android fell on the dirt, joining her brothers and sisters in the infinite mountain of corpses the Doom Slayer had accumulated throughout the years. He was still impressed she had challenged him head-on, even though the difference in strength between them was clear as day and night. Remarkable? yes. Now, wise? Not so much. His musings stopped when he felt a soft tap on his back, he turned around to see the young girl, desperately trying to skewer him with her pathetic dagger, her blindfold completely drenched with tears. He could hear her muttering something; Whatever it was, it didn't matter: His huge hand closed around her throat, making her yelp and drop her dagger. He easily lifted her so his visor was staring directly at her blindfold. She tried to claw at his armored hand, scrapping with her dainty and weak fingers to no avail.

Was this truly everything the humans in this world had to defend themselves? Pathetic, indeed. He could already see the Slaves of Doom plowing through these dolls, ripping and tearing them apart as if they were nothing but mere annoyances. If that was the case, he needed to hurry up and find them before the demons did. Otherwise, this world would fall with relative ease.

"Y-You… Monster…"

The words resonated across the silent battlefield, her voice trembling with both fury and terror. The Marine simply stared at her: Monster… If only she knew about the horrors he had seen and fought… But then again, she wasn't wrong: He had become something even the Slaves of Doom feared.

Monster…

Yeah, that sounds about right.

"Y-You w-will… Pay!" She managed to yell. The Marine snorted but to his surprise, she smiled "I… I hope you b-burn in hell…" The irony of that statement made the Marine l-

Suddenly, a bright light shone above them. The Slayer looked up and saw a yellow dot glowing just above him; He studied the strange phenomenon briefly, wondering what the hell was that… His eyes widened as realization washed over him.

He had fallen for their trap.

"Got you, bitc-" She began before the orbital strike fell, reducing her to mere dust, setting the world alight and filling the Marine with nothing but pure and searing pain.

* * *

"Visuals are down but we have scored a direct hit!" Operator 9O informed, tapping furiously on her terminal.

"Sensors are offline!" Operator 17O supplied next to 9O.

"The survivors have returned! I will go and interrogate them!" 71O offered, getting up from her seat and exiting the control room.

White simply stood there, eyeing the main monitor on the Control Room, displaying nothing but static. 18B's plan had worked… To some degree, at least: The orbital strike had hit the monster directly, releasing enough firepower to level an entire country if needed: It was, alongside the black box detonation, the most powerful tools YoRHa had at their disposal. It was rarely used, as it consumed far too much energy and resources, only used a few times during the machines wars whenever a gargantuan Goliath appeared. It wasn't something she would use lightly, as it was powerful enough to wipe out both enemies and allies alike… Just like in this case: Although it seemed effective, the black boxes that survived the first assault were exterminated alongside the Green Berserker. Sure, White could always re-construct the androids using pre-existing back-ups but that would not help her deal with the guilt. Even if those girls returned, she had used them as cannon fodder, sending them to their doom without a second thought, sacrificing their lives as if they meant nothing.

The Commander bit her lower lip, remembering that grim mission from Hawaii, a few centuries ago. A suicide mission with no chance of success… And how she had somehow achieved victory over every prediction. But from that encounter, White could only remember the last words they exchanged before she left: A cold truth lay bare for her to witness, the shame and guilt that would forever follow her, no matter how long this charade lasted...

_You knew… Didn't you?_

"Attention! We have re-established the connection! We will have visuals in a few seconds!" An operator said behind her, snapping her out of her musings.

Her eyes focused on the main monitor and she waited, praying that the sacrifices hadn't been in vain. After a moment, the static gave way to barren land, empty, devoid of any sign of life. As she had expected, the orbital strike had swept across the battlefield with terrifying efficiency: Clearing the large patches of grass, trees, and most importantly, corpses and evidence of the battle. White scanned the image carefully, hoping to find anything to send the recovery team, anything to tell her this had not been another blunder in her long list of terrible mistakes… But there was nothing to be seen. Nothing remained: Neither the remains of the YoRHa androids nor the corpses of the machines lifeforms...

Nothing…

Except…

"I am detecting movement!" One of the operators said as the monitor magnified a small section of the barren plains of the City Ruins: A small patch of dirt was trembling slightly as if someone was buried under it "Maybe 123H survived after all!" A few Operators agreed with her… But White knew better, and she couldn't help but sneer at the idiotic optimism of the operator. "It's…! It's…! It-" But the operator didn't continue and White didn't have to turn around to see the kind of expression she had on her face.

From the dirt, the green berserker emerged: His armor was considerably more filthy than before, charred even, due to the orbital strike hitting him directly but still completely undamaged. He shakily got out of the hole he had been buried in, his limbs trembling slightly as he got up, standing tall and proud in the aftermath of the cataclysmic fury rained by YoRHa. Suddenly, he turned and looked up, his visor focusing directly on the camera that was keeping track of him from orbit. The control room fell into silence as he simply stared blankly at them, unmoving, immutable, silent. And slowly, he lifted his right hand until he was pointing directly at them and…

Gave them the middle finger.

With that, he ran towards the buildings in the city ruins, leaving the androids at the control room stunned by the humiliating defeat and felony some of them had never suffered in their entire lives.

"Quite charming, huh?" 4O noted drily.

At her words, the spell broke and the androids got to work.

"H-he is running away!"

"Someone tag him! Don't let him get away!"

"Dispatching the reckon team at once!"

"He will not escape!"

"He will pay!"

"He will pay!"

4O watched the chaos with mild interest, never in her life seeing the operators work with such fury in their lives. A sight to behold, indeed. But one voided of purpose or logical reasoning: Her eyes focused on her commander, dressed in pure and pristine white among the black uniforms of her peers. White was the only one wearing an impassive mask, betraying neither the fury nor the fear she had displayed while the berserker slaughtered her forces. Her silvery-blue eyes stared directly at 4O, conveying the same truths she herself had come to accept. And with a subtle nod, only 4O was able to see, the old operator knew what had to be done: She tapped a few commands in her datapad, and waited…

And after a second, a message came through, stopping the operators completely. A message they knew very well… A message from the council of humans, hiding in the moon.

"_**This is a message for our valiant androids fighting for our future on earth: We, the high council of humanity, have observed your brave battle against this new and terrible enemy, and although we can understand your desire to defeat this unknown foe, it pains our hearts to see such beautiful creatures as yourselves being slaughtered without mercy like mere and baseless animals. As such we beg you to reconsider this faulty and flawed course of action: This enemy is far more powerful than anything you have encountered and as such, we advise finesse and dexterity over brute force and anger. We trust the Commander will guide you through the right direction just as she had done ever since this war began. We expect great things from all of you. Glory to mankind." **_

And the message ended.

The room was once again frozen in place, the androids unable to understand what just happened. It wasn't strange for the humans on the moon to send messages encouraging them or offering words of wisdom… But for them to actively interfere in their operations was unheard of: And some of them couldn't shake the feeling there was something off about this message.

"Glory to Mankind!" But before any of them had a chance to form any conclusion, Commander White saluted with conviction.

The rest of the androids looked at her dumbfounded but after a while, they slowly mimicked her, obeying the most important principle engraved in their minds since their creation.

"**GLORY TO MANKIND!"**

Total and absolute obedience to their masters…

Humanity.

"Good! We have received our orders and we will follow them perfectly! As such, you are forbidden from interacting with the green berserker! We will keep an eye on him but no contact would be allowed by any means until I have designed a way to effectively killing him! Am I clear?"

"**YES, MA'AM!"**

"Good! For now, I want complete surveillance on the machine lifeforms dwelling near the buildings in City Ruins! We must ensure they don't take advantage of our weakened state to launch an attack on our forces stationed on earth or the androids of the Resistance! But above all else, begin the process of replacing our fallen comrades with new iterations of the same models! There should be some old back-ups we can use to replicate their complete personality and memories as best as you can! We will need them in the incoming battle… Any questions?"

"**NO, MA'AM!"**

"Excellent! Now, if you excuse me, I must attend to some business. I will return shortly with our next plan of action. Glory to mankind!" She ended, saluting and leaving the control room.

As soon as the commander left, every operator sat in their terminals and began working, furiously tapping on their keyboards, relaying orders to their agents as well as keeping tabs on enemy movements on the surface… All but one:

4O eyed the other operators, paying close attention to 6O and 21O: The former was sitting at her terminal as well, her fingers moving with practiced discipline… But 4O could see her eyes were staring at nothing, lost in space as she mechanically obeyed her orders. 21O looked slightly better: Still working like she had been doing ever since 9S was confirmed killed in action. Of course, whether she was working on White's orders or something else was up to debate but 4O didn't feel like asking: She herself had an important mission to do, far more important than anything these clueless androids did here.

Without saying anything, she exited control room and walked down the pristine hallway, catching sight of earth outside of the Bunker. She eyed the marvelous third planet in the solar system with mild interest, wondering just what kind of events this new development would cause down there.

Her steps took her to a peculiar door lacking any nameplate: She took a deep breath, knocked at the door, and entered without waiting for an answer

The inside of the room was just as she remembered, a complete and utter mess: Boots and other forms of footwear were sprawled across the floor alongside some trinkets and other items whose purpose she ignored. The small bookshelf was filled to the brim and a few of the books were dangerously keeping a precarious balance at the edge. The table at the end of the room was covered in disorganized stacks of papers, pencils, and pens, and some interesting toys 4O was sure were not there last time she came here.

And on the bed, covered by pieces of wrinkled clothing, laid the perfect and stern Commander White, content with the disastrous state of her room. 4O watched as White napped, wondering how someone as smart and graceful like her could live in such detrimental conditions. Then again, that was above her paygrade…

If she had one, of course.

"Did it work?" White asked, not bothering to look at her or change her position.

"So it seems…" 4O answered, tapping into her datapad "I have yet to detect any move against the green berserker. Everyone seems to be following your orders diligently… There are some cases I'll have to monitor myself just to be sure."

"21O and 6O?" White asked.

"Who else would it be?" 4O retorted in mild annoyance

"Make sure to prioritize the reconstruction of units 2B and 9S: I think their pods brought enough data to recreate their personalities. I hope that helps those two."

"I will never understand your infatuation with those two…" 4O said, shaking her head "Anyways, what is the next move? We may have bought some time with that little stunt but I'm sure a few will start asking questions sooner or later, and I would rather not have our entire staff executed in a row."

"The next move, huh?" White said, sitting on her bed and looking at the floor "What to do, indeed?" 4O eyed her commander silently, perfectly still and waiting patiently for her orders "If I am honest with you… I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean? It is obvious we should eliminate this new threat before it escalates into something we can't control."

"How?" White asked, looking directly at 4O "How can we eliminate something that has survived everything we have thrown at him? How can we kill something that can survive orbital strikes from the Bunker? How can we do it?" 4O didn't answer and White giggled lightly "You know… When I saw that thing simply rip and tear the machine lifeforms, I felt… Mesmerized: Across my long and dull life, I have never experienced something as visceral and brutal. Something we have never encountered, something born to dominate and exterminate everything in their path… Bigger than you, me, and this pathetic game we have been playing for far too long…" As soon as those words were uttered, White found herself staring at a golden sword, directly resting at her forehead. Without losing her cool, she slowly turned her head to stare directly into 4O cold eyes "Stand down, 4E. I am not planning on betraying the cause…"

"Are you sure about that? Your statement just now sounded quite traitorous" The executioner whispered lowly "Maybe it is time to initiate your iteration cycle once and for all…"

"We have been together ever since this charade began: I saw you being born, I saw you pledge total obedience to your mission… And I saw you cull the failure that came before you and your sisters"

"1E…" 4E mused to herself, remembering the Titanic and downright cruel mission she and the entire 'E' series had to fulfill in the name of 'Mankind'.

"The first of your kind; Stronger than any other android ever created in YoRHa. Capable of completing any mission given to her… But also weak in comparison to you or the rest of your sisters: Too kind and compassionate for her own good. In the end, I asked you to eliminate her… And you accepted without a shadow of a doubt."

"It was my job: I was created to do this. No one but me could have succeeded…"

"Or so you say but in reality, you know very well 2E or 3E could have done it… But you decided this was your burden to carry. You decided to put yourself in a dark place so the rest wouldn't have to face the terrible truth. Just like I have been doing for as long as I can remember." Slowly and gently, White caressed 2E on her cheek "And that's what made me choose you as my overseer, so you would end my life the moment I gave up entirely on this lost cause… And ever since, you have been with me; Watching my every step in this war. So I ask you… Do you think I have given up just yet?" She asked, staring directly into 4E's eyes.

"No" The executioner answered, returning her sword to her sheath and concealing it within her clothes.

"Good… Truthfully, I was feeling overwhelmed by everything: This new threat is not one we can ignore and sadly, normal methods will not yield any meaningful result."

"What is the next move, then?" 4E asked, as White rose from her bed and walked towards her bookshelf, tracing that books with her finger "Because apparently, you don't want to kill him."

"Is not that I don't want to kill him… I simply don't know HOW: The most powerful weapon in our arsenal proved useless against him: If an orbital strike couldn't reduce him to mere atoms, what could a bunch of swords, missiles, bullets, and even a black box detonation do?" 4E wanted to answer but found no argument capable of refuting anything White had said "Killing him is out of the question so I suppose we should the next most sensible thing available at the moment…"

"Which is… What?" Finally, White had found the book she was looking for. A large volume with golden letters over a red background. She slowly gave the book to 4E so she could read the title.

"_A Midsummer Night's Dream_?" 4E read and looked at White in disbelief "How is this supposed to help us?"

"It's not about the story on itself; After all, the characters created by William Shakespeare have nothing to do with us and the Green Berserker. But there is a method depicted in the book we can use… And no, it doesn't have anything to do with magic paste or fictional beings."

"You don't mean… Manipulating the berserker, right?" White nodded with a small smile "And how are we supposed to do that?

"Truthfully, it will not be an easy feat to accomplish." White accepted, taking the book from 4E and placing it in its place on the bookshelf "As of now, we have effectively become enemies with the armored being: Our relationship is based upon anger and vengeance. He has slaughtered many of us, and we would do anything to have his head in a silver platter… But the reality is that we will not survive an open encounter against him. We must avoid any confrontation… He is a dangerous being: A ticking bomb capable of destroying everything we have worked for."

"A terrifying thought."

"Yes, indeed. When I first saw him, I couldn't help but tremble in fear. But within that crippling horror, inspiration struck me with the most deranged idea I have ever conceived…" She turned around and smiled at 4E "He doesn't need to be a bomb… Instead, we can use him as a cannon."

"A cannon? I don't think I follow…"

"In his current state, he would most likely kill us on sight. But maybe, we can use other assets to change his focus: Guide him towards other enemies…"

"The machine lifeforms…" 4E muttered as White's plan began taking take form inside her mind.

"Exactly! After all, the machines did try to kill him as well, So it is safe to assume he feels rather hostile against them as well."

"I suppose that is a logical statement… But the question is, how can we manipulate him into attacking the machines and not us? Meeting him is out of the question and unless he finds the machine's HQ by chance, the most he can do is fight stragglers and small packs without eliminating any powerful Goliaths."

"Correct… But you are still forgetting we still have one more card in our deck. A wild card, but the last option we have left"

"You don't mean…" 4E began, narrowing her eyes in confusion. That was until realization hit her and she widened them as much as she could "The Resistance… You are planning on using the Resistance."

"Correct yet again!" White cheered "They don't know what exactly happened in City Ruins today: They can deduct a powerful enemy appeared since we used the Orbital Strike but the real nature of this threat is unknown to them… So maybe, we can feed them false information and guide them towards the green berserker."

"I see… It indeed sounds like a clever idea…"

"Exactly! Now we just need to-"

"But…" 4E interrupted "What makes you think he is going to accept the androids at the Resistance? As far as I am concerned, he could have qualified every single android as an enemy. The resistance may not be part of YoRHa but they are still androids. How can you be sure he will not simply kill them on sight?"

"I don't know…" White admitted in shame, looking at the ground "This is but a shot in the dark, a gamble… A leap of faith" She added, looking at 4E again "But deep inside, I feel this is the right thing to do but even if it isn't, we have nothing left: We could try to kill him again and again, dispatching bigger armies, using our most powerful weapons, raining brimstone and fury from the sky… But you know as well as I do that path will lead to our downfall: We can't waste our forces on a single target when the Machines Lifeforms are still out there. I will not fight him any further: If this plan fails, I will do everything in my power to make sure we avoid any form of contact with him. I don't know what the machines would do in that case; They would probably feel curious and chase him. In the end, they will draw the same conclusions, whether they waste more resources than us is yet to be seen but with time, they will understand he is not something they can defeat. If such scenario does happen, I am afraid to say I ignore the future waiting for us." She walked past 4E and stood at the terminal in her room "So that is why I pray we can pull this plan off: I pray he can accept the Resistance; I pray he will work for them… And one day, I pray our grudges will be forgotten, and we can work together to keep this worthless world from falling into oblivion."

"Are you going to tell Anemone?"

"No… Not yet, at least. Even though we must create the scenes and control the script, our influence must be kept to a minimum. Their relationship must be crafted naturally and developed at his pace. Sure, we can direct him towards certain key points but we will remain hidden until we are certain Anemone has enough control to stop him from brutalizing us. We will watch and whisper in their ears…"

"Like fairies?"

"I was going to say ghosts but I suppose 'fairies' is more adequate" White giggled "If our plan works, that is…"

"I will begin to plan countermeasures if everything fails…" 4E began, turning to leave the room "Speeding up the reconstruction of our fallen units will represent a problem but I am sure I will manage it somehow. I will also look into the archives and see if there are abandoned prototypes for new weaponry. If our current equipment is useless, a bunch of fresh guns might make the difference should the worst outcome happens."

"You do that…" White nodded as she tapped on her terminal "Also, 4E…" She called and the executioner in disguise turned to see her "Thank you for listening and not killing me."

"It was a pleasure, Commander." 4O bowed slightly and left the room.

White eyed the door for a few moments before she returned to her terminal and continued tapping. Suddenly, a holographic screen popped up in front of her, displaying the portrait of an exotic tanned woman with emerald eyes, wearing a tribal green cloak with a simple golden and black design at the edge of the cloth.

"Anemone, can you hear me?" The Commander asked.

"_White! Is that you?! Thank god! I've been trying to communicate with you ever since we received that warning about a dangerous entity rampaging in the plains of City Ruins! We were ordered to stay at the camp and not come out until everything had passed! What happened, White? We saw several flying units flying there and even an orbital strike! Not to mention I haven't been able to contact 2B or 9S… White, what happened out there?"_

The Commander looked at Anemone's portrait, carefully examining her noble and exquisite features. For a blissful moment, White was tempted to tell her the truth: To let her know about the imminent danger hiding in the fallen buildings just a few kilometers away from her camp, about the lives lost and the way they have been brutalized by him, and the madness she had planned for her and every single member in the Resistance…

Of course, only for a blissful moment…

"I apologize if I worried you, Anemone" White said in her usual cold yet gentle voice "An unknown Goliath appeared on the plains and we had to send a special team to deal with it. Since their current equipment proved useless, I authorized the use of an orbital strike. The plan worked and the Goliath was swiftly destroyed. Sadly, we overestimated its durability and most of its body was disintegrated during the explosion."

"_O-Oh! I thought as much… Tell me, can I help you with something?"_

"Actually, you can: The Goliath brought with it a large wave of machine lifeforms. We determined the swarm would represent a danger to you and the Resistance so we dispatched most of our forces to deal with the stragglers that survived the Orbital Strike. Due to that circumstance, we are unable to recover what little was left of it. I want the Resistance to investigate the site and bring back anything of meaningful importance so we may determine its origin and the cause of its sudden appearance in the City Ruins."

"_I see…" _Anemone mused to herself, thoughtful _"I can have a team ready in a few minutes; Luckily for us, most of our agents were back here at camp. The others were too far away to suffer from the battle but I will check on them as soon as possible."_

"That would not be advisable: As I said before, we are still trying to deal with the survivors and these are no normal machines. The best course of action is to send a single android to scout and recover as much as they can without being detected. Stealth is the best course of action and a large armed group would surely attract unwanted attention."

"_I… I suppose you are right… But I am not sure any of the members of the Resistance are equipped to do something like that…"_

"Don't worry, Anemone. If you excuse me, I would like to make a suggestion…" White began, wishing to whatever entity out there to forgive her for what she was about to make her friends do on her behalf "Is Jackass at the camp right now?"

"_Yes, she returned just before everything started. I was planning to send her to do some recon at the desert… Why?"_

"Can you patch me through? I think she is the one best suited for this mission."

"_Well, if you say so. Give me a minute, I think she is napping at the warehouse…"_ Anemone said before the connection ended. White stood there, frozen in place, her mind working around the millions upon millions of scenarios. Trembling as each one had a worst outcome than the last one, wondering just how much would Jackass suffer before the berserker finally killed her, or if Anemone would ever forgive her for setting the Resistance up, or the consequences of failing.

Her thoughts grew darker and darker as the seconds passed painfully slowly.

And then, another portrait popped up in front of her: This was the picture of a young and dirty woman wearing a blue cloak over her raven hair. Her black and eternally impish eyes, as well as the cheeky smile, filled White with an unbearable pain:

She had always known she was a heartless monster for manipulating the lives of her dear friends like this: Hiding away the terrible truth behind lies, playing with their feelings as the androids couldn't wait to rid this world of the machines so their beloved humans would return and grace them with their holy presence.

It was painful enough to drive her mad… But nevertheless, the bleak future that awaited them should the truth escaped the confines of the Moon and YoRHa was enough to keep her sane.

* * *

**Colony house - Lonely**

* * *

For now, that is…

"_Hey, Whitey! Anemone said you need me for sumethin'! What can little ol' me do for an old friend like you!" _Jackass asked, mirth filling her voice.

White remained silent, knowing full well she was doing something completely unforgivable: Something that would forever chase her so long as she lived. She could feel her sins crawling along her back, letting her know once she took this path, death would be too good, almost merciful, for the likes of her.

"Hello, Jackass. I am glad to see you are as quirky as I remember" White managed to say in a somehow happy tone.

"_You know me: Nothin' can keep this girl down!" _White could almost picture her doing a fist pump _"Alright, what do you need me for?"_ Jackass asked in blissful ignorance, not knowing the terrible and brutal events that waited for her in the deepest part of City Ruins

* * *

**Chapter I**

**a m[A]rine in a land of machines**

* * *

**Reviews are appreciated**

**Let me know if there are details or things I can improve on**

**Thank you for reading my story**

**Until next time**


	3. Chapter 3 - Part 3

"Damn, they really did a number on this place, huh?" Jackass couldn't help but say aloud as she witnessed first hand the aftermath of the battle that took place an hour ago near the main camp of the Resistance.

Her surprise was well-founded as she was greeted with a large plain of barren and charred land: Although she ignored the details, Jackass had been informed some gargantuan Goliath made act of presence in the midst of City Ruins: A powerful and terrible entity that had spawned hordes of Machines Lifeforms, advancing tirelessly towards the camp with the sole purpose of destroying everything in sight. Most frightening of all, this new Goliath seemed to exude a dangerous infection capable of corrupting even the famed Scanners of YoRHa; A virus strong and aggressive enough to bypass every countermeasure designed by YoRHa was not something to be ignored, and the Resistance had begun informing the rest of its members spread around the globe to be vigilant and inform YoRHa immediately should they notice anything strange at all.

But even with these quantities of information being shared among the Resistance, Jackass was surprised just how little White had disclosed about the whole affair: Sure, there had been an enemy on the plains and YoRHa had fought tooth and nail to keep it away from the Resistance… But in reality, there was no footage of said Goliath: Not a single video or picture was given to Anemone, and it didn't really matter if YoRHa warned the Resistance about dangerous and bizarre Machines, without a clear image of what they should be careful with, almost every machine looked bizarre and dangerous for them: There was no way to tell what exactly they were looking for and Jackass found it extremely dubious… But then again, it is YoRHa: They are not exactly the most open folks out there.

They mostly kept to themselves, sharing whatever they considered important and holding everything else in their space bunker: Messages from the Moon were indeed shared but most of them were kept a secret from the masses. Why? No one could tell for certain, not even Anemone and she had direct connection with Commander White. In hindsight, the entire relationship between YoRHa and the Resistance was rather shady and borderline ridiculous, especially considering that the vast majority of the androids at the Resistance had never heard or seen a human in person, Jackass included. They had been deployed on the planet a couple of hundreds of years ago, when the humans had already exiled themselves to their safe haven at the moon, leaving nothing but orders to destroy the aliens and the Machine Lifeforms, and YoRHa, to guide, oversee, and control the androids at the Resistance... Many had questioned exactly why the system was like this, but those questions soon were forgotten as there were far more important things to worry about…

That and the fact that most of those that asked too many questions ended up dying in horrible and gruesome accidents.

No big deal, though: They could always be reconstructed and reintegrated in the Resistance, courtesy of YoRHa…

With no memories of the things they asked or how they died, of course…

In all honesty, Jackass was worried about the current state of affairs but she had wisely chosen to remain quiet and just distract herself with other things. Like for example, her obsession with scientific investigation and experimentation. Jackass was an odd android, even among the weirdos at the Resistance: A veteran from the Machine Wars, with enough experience to craft explosives out of stone and sticks.

She was rather famous among YoRHa: Commander White had spoken highly of her and whenever she needed advice, White would sometimes consult with both Anemone and Jackass.

But despite her many condecorations, Jackass was well-known for her eccentricity: From exploring the knowledge of the old world buried in the ruins of the cities left by humans, to some downright illegal practices like producing her own brand of drugs, experimenting with volatile substances, and enabling other androids to chase their more unorthodox dreams, like pioneering in the arts of cooking, even though they couldn't really taste anything, or exploring the mysteries bred around human reproduction and sexuality.

An impish and curious android determined to discover everything that there was to see on her own, ignoring whatever means that didn't involve getting dirty. After many complaints and an embarrassing case of an android dying due to the ingestion of a mackerel, Jackass had been demoted to taking care of the warehouse and their supplies…

As expected, it didn't work.

More than once, the poor sod that was unlucky enough to end up partnered with Jackass had to do all the heavy lifting because Jackass was never there, and when Jackass was indeed working at the warehouse, she ended up turning the whole place into a complete mess, making her partner work twice since by the time Anemone showed up to give her a good scolding, Jackass had already banished from sight, escaping and going on an adventure.

"Geez, you really went overboard, Whitey…" Jackass murmured as she inspected the barren and charred land, tracing the soil with her fingers in hopes she would find something buried beneath "How am I supposed to find anything at all? There is nothing here but ashes and dirt!" She huffed in irritation.

In truth, White had told her this mission would be quite tedious, requiring maximum concentration, attention to detail, and lots of spare time in order to scan and find anything of value in this empty space… Things Jackass definitely had but lacked the most important key ingredient in the recipe: Patience.

Jackass was brilliant, a genius among the low-quality androids of the Resistance, managing to even surpass units in YoRHa… She was just a tad…

You know…

Crazy.

"There is nothing here!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, completely forgetting this was supposed to be a stealth mission "How am I supposed to find anything in this dump?! Damn you, White! I knew you hated me! Damn you and your fine bottom!" She cursed with all her might.

Somewhere near the stratosphere, Commander White couldn't help but sigh tiredly as her trustworthy operator 4O snickered in the background.

"Oh, well! I guess there is nothing here, then!" Jackass suddenly said to herself, nodding in approval to her own conclusion "I guess I could go and see if there is something in the ruins." She said, looking at the fallen city just a few miles from where she was.

Even after all these years, City Ruins remained a mystery for many: According to the archives, humans used to build gigantic settlements where they lived, interacted, persevered, were born and ultimately, died. Thanks to their vast intellect, humans were capable of constructing the titanic buildings she now saw before her eyes. It was truly a sight to behold, considering humans were born fragile and incapable of defending themselves from the harsh conditions of the world; Instead of thick hides, natural instincts, and claws, humans were born with an uncanny and relentless mind, allowing them to create tools and other techniques to tame the unruly mother nature and its dangers with relatively ease. This allowed them to thrive and forge their own legend across the stars…

Sadly, it was never enough.

"Now, where to go…?" Jackass said in a sing-song voice as she walked through the degraded main street, eyeing the many fallen buildings with a cryptic eye "White did say there was a strange reading somewhere nearby… But then again, I really have no idea what to look for…"

She walked through the decayed constructs, witnessing how the symbols of humanity had been slowly reclaimed by nature, it was both beautiful and sad at the same time: To see the remains of an ancient and powerful race disappearing in the sands of time with nothing but ruins and stories to tell the tale of their might.

This was what Jackass lived for: The thrill of adventure, to not know what awaited for you on the next corner, to discover treasures beneath rocks and dirt, to explore the secrets and wonders this world had to offer. Normally, all androids could connect to the YoRHa network and download any information of interest. And although many sections were out of limits, the androids of the Resistance were able to get a glimpse of the world before the aliens and the machines, to witness how much the human race had achieved with their limited lifespans, talents, and strengths.

That was something Jackass refused to do.

After all, what was the point in having everything within reach? Where was the fun in knowing everything when you haven't seen anything with your own two eyes? For Jackass, it was nothing but a hollow victory, to own something she hadn't fought for disgusted her greatly. In her eyes, she was surrendering herself to the biassed views of those who had created the network, accepting whatever they said like machines… And yes, Jackass was well aware she was a machine, a synthetic being created with the sole purpose of serving and obeying.

But for some reason, she was given free will.

And across the years, Jackass had come to understand the great burden of said gift.

She trusted YoRHa, that was for sure: She trusted that every single one of those mysterious and beautiful androids were doing the impossible to return earth to its former glory, she trusted White would be the one to guide them to victory and crush the alien opposition, she trusted she would live to see the day when every single machine ceased to exist, she trusted she would live to see the day when humanity finally descended from the skies in their golden vessels, carrying in their hands a thousand and one stars, finally relieving the androids from their worries and fears, casting an everlasting light that would forever chase away the shadows of anxiety and hopelessness and together, Mankind and androids would begin an era of peace and prosperity until the end of times… And just then, Jackass trusted she would finally be allowed to sleep in peace, knowing everything she had sacrificed hadn't been in vain.

But this…

This was nothing but a childish and naive dream she had back in the day when she was nothing but a rookie.

Now, Jackass laughed bitterly at the foolishness of her younger self… And at the same time, she felt jealous of how easy things had been when she lived in blissful ignorance.

Jackass refused to connect with the YoRHa network because she had seen what it could do: Strip you from your identity and turn you into a slave, only listening and believing what YoRHa said with fanatical obedience. She had seen friends turned into brainless animals, bound to YoRHa's iron will, happily throwing themselves into the line of fire, accepting their destiny as cannon fodder with joy, smiling while they were reduced to scrap with their blank and empty eyes.

She didn't want to believe YoRHa was indoctrinating them, she didn't want to believe White only saw them as convenient and expendable pieces she could use when she saw it fit, she didn't want to believe in the words of the deserters.

Jackass refused to believe her life had been a sophisticated and manufactured lie, fabricated to fulfill whatever conspiracy existed hidden in the Bunker and the Moon.

"Ah, goddammit…" She cursed lowly, shaking her head in frustration, hoping that would ward away the dark thoughts inside her mind. "Get a grip of yourself, Jackass. There are things to do…" She told herself reassuringly as she took a small datapad from her pockets.

According to the briefing, a chunk of the Goliath had somehow survived the orbital strike and was somewhere in City Ruins: The exact location of this piece was unknown as it was exuding a strange aura that jammed the sensors within the Bunker… Which only caused more questions: After all, why would they send an unprepared android of the Resistance to retrieve an important resource that was probably a dangerous hazard? Jackass was wise enough to keep her questions to herself and only nod in understanding. After all, White asked her to retrieve this peculiar object for her…

But she forgot to specify when should Jackass deliver it to YoRHa.

So as far as she was concerned, Jackass had been authorized to run as many tests as she wanted on the damn thing before she gave it to White.

The impish rogue smirked to herself, wondering just how many tons of TNT could that thing endure, probably a considerable amount since it had survived the Orbital Strike… Which would only make it more fun to blow to kingdom come.

Suddenly, her datapad pinged, signaling it had detected something in the vicinity. Jackass eyed the datapad, trying to make sense of the ridiculous charts it was displaying. It was some sort of unknown energy she hadn't seen in her entire life: Whatever it was, it was a plasmatic form of energy, extremely unstable and dangerous. How was Jackass supposed to seize and bring it back to the Resistance? A wonderful and interesting question she had no way of answering but that was not enough to discourage the rogue: She had faced many hard puzzles and problems across her life and all of these events had taught an important rule

If it doesn't work the first time, kick it until it does.

Her datapad took her to a humongous skyscraper at the edge of City Ruins: A marvelous piece of architecture that had somehow survived the passage of time and the power of mother nature: Large green vines and other weeds grew all over the granite walls, branches of trees could be seen through the hollow windows, revealing an interesting array of exotic flowers and other forms of vegetation.

Jackass entered the skyscraper through the main door, carefully avoiding the roots and debris on the floor, and stepped into the soft grass and damp soil. As soon as she was in, she crouched on the ground and began looking through the contents of her backpack, her eyes scanning her surroundings, looking for possible threats, hidden enemies or anything that could hold some sort of importance in her mission. In a few seconds, she was armed with a short and thin rusted sword, a combat knife, a small pistol, and a few homemade grenades she had crafted just yesterday. Looking through her supplies, she also grabbed a few torches, bandages, a special gel designed to patch her up, and a vial containing a YoRHa antivirus vaccine she had bought a few days ago from her 'cooking' partner.

After she was sure everything secured within her pouches and pockets, she left her backpack at the entrance of the building, safely hidden behind an oak: As far as she was concerned, she didn't know what exactly she was going to find inside so she decided to carry the most crucial items, allowing her to remain light and fast on her feet should she find an enemy she couldn't beat on her own.

Nodding in approval, she began climbing the ruinous stairs, watching her step so she wouldn't fall and make a fool out of herself.

* * *

"How tall is this goddamn thing…?" Jackass uttered to herself as she reached floor number sixty. "And where the hell is that freaking thing?!" This time, she couldn't help but yell at her pinging datapad in frustration.

After entering the building, Jackass found herself disappointed at the apparent lack of… Well, anything at all: According to White, the area was brimming with machine lifeforms, attracted to the energy exuding from the Goliath's chunk, causing several of them to act dangerously when they came into contact with it. And sure, Jackass had found a few corpses here and there but nothing of actual interest: Those machine husks looked as if they had been killed by YoRHa or androids of the Resistance a long time ago, their bodies already eroded by time and repurposed by nature as flower pots or playgrounds for small insects and other vermin. And even though the datapad had been pinging constantly, Jackass couldn't really tell if she was getting closer due to its crude design: It was infuriating and borderline stupid but then again, it was everything she could come up with by using the scare materials she had found in the warehouse and were not immediately needed by others.

Sadly for her and every other android in the Resistance, this situation was pretty common: The lack of resources and supplies often meant they couldn't achieve much by themselves. Most of their weapons were made out of poor materials or simply taken from dead machines. Some others had been found in the old settlements from YoRHa; Antique and obsolete swords and other weapons that had been discontinued a long time ago replaced with newer and more powerful equipment.

It had always been like that: Humanity needed large quantities of supplies so everything the Resistance harvested from the planet was shipped and delivered by YoRHa. Sure, YoRHa would spare some parts every now and then but normally, the Resistance had to hold on and work with what little they had… Or take the alternative: Salvage anything they could from android and machine corpses. Jackass shivered as she remembered how many times she had seen her comrades cut open a corpse and take whatever parts were still functional.

It was a gruesome spectacle and a dangerous practice since more often than not, most of the parts were faulty or plagued with viruses. She had voiced her concerns to Anemone but as always, there was little they could do to remedy the situation: The Machines had YoRHa pressed from all sides and they still had to take care of the humans in the Moon. At this rate, Jackass was sure it wouldn't take long before they perished.

Sighing tiredly, Jackass decided to not think about it for now: At the end of the day, they had nothing else. Of course, they could join the traitors but Jackass would rather not have dozens of YoRHa operatives hunting down her ass.

Anyway, instead of dwelling in troublesome things, she decided to focus on the task at hand.

As she had come to expect, the current floor had nothing of interest as well; Just a few rusted chairs and desk here and there, traces of decayed furniture, and few interesting trinkets that looked like they would turn into dust as soon as she touched them. Had it not been a mission, Jackass would have spent the rest of her day carefully assessing every new discovery and writing down as much data as she could: Sure, none of it would be useful for the war but it would entertain her for a while and keep her out of trouble.

With great pain and regret, she looked away from the piles of treasures and haphazardly walked towards the stairs, carefully minding her steps and avoiding cracks and other unstable areas.

In her honest opinion, she was surprised a building this high had somehow survived the passage of time: As far as she was concerned, the skyscraper was even older than White, a stunning feat considering the Commander could be a fine addition to any museum. She was no expert but surely the building should have fallen a few centuries ago, due to time or as collateral damage from the war. Yet, the colossus remained standing, living proof of humanity's might and expertise in the arts of architecture, letting the world know that even though they had been pushed away from earth, their legacy was still present and crowded them as the true rulers of the planet.

The next floor was another disappointment: A barren space with fallen pieces of debris and a large hole that gave her a good view of the next floor above her. With nothing else to look at, Jackass climbed two more floors until something caught her attention.

There was some fresh oil on floor Sixty-three.

It was a small trail left near the stairs, something she would have ignored had she not been looking for it: Black and murky, a peculiar grease and degraded smell picking at her nose trill... The kind of oil used for machine lifeforms. She narrowed her eyes and drew her pistol; White did say the machines would try to recover as much as they could in order to reconstruct the Goliath so she should be ready to at least run away if the situation was beyond her capabilities. Then again, this could be the new breed of corrupted machines that had survived the orbital strike. If that was the case, Jackass would make sure to record as much info as possible and share it among the Resistance.

If YoRHa wasn't going to do their job properly, she was going to take matters into her own hands… She owned Anemone that much.

The time for games and daydreams were gone.

It was time to do her job.

She climbed the stairs, moving quickly but in total silence, using the shadows cast by the sun to keep herself somewhat hidden from sight.

Just as she had done in her days as a saboteur, she moved quietly and softly: Her boots making almost no sound as she made her way towards the next set of stairs. With her gun trained and her finger on the trigger, she climbed the cracked steps, her eyes scanning every little shadow in sight, her ears picking up any sound.

Slowly, she finally climbed the stairs and had to use every ounce of self-control to stop herself from making a sound:

In the middle of the room, lying in a pool of murky oil, there was a medium biped machine, completely torn to ribbons: Its rib cage had been ripped wide open and its innards were scattered all around it. It was missing one leg and a large section of its face was gone. Jackass eyed the machine for a few seconds, absorbed in her own shock before she approached the brutalized corpse. Once she was close enough, she noticed the full extent of the damage and how odd it was: As far as she was concerned, there was no weapon in YoRHa's or the Machine's arsenal that could do this kind of thing: It looked as if an actual animal had torn the medium-biped apart using claws and fangs. Jackass had seen a few animal corpses that had wounds like that, mostly on deer that had been attacked by a bigger predator.

The android shivered and eyed the stairs towards the next floor, unsure if she should continue or return to the Resistance and inform White of her findings; Whatever had done this to the machine, it was something that could not be left alone. But Jackass knew without information, it was pointless: She was tired of chasing ghosts and shadows inside dead ends, wasting precious time while the Machines grew stronger. Jackass couldn't allow herself to fail; She would come back to the Resistance with the Goliath piece or the corpse of whatever killed this machine.

But upon reaching the next floor, all that determination crumbled away...

* * *

**Alien Isolation - It's here**

* * *

Corpses.

Dozens of them littered the floor.

Dozens of them stacked together in a mangled mess of scrap and wires.

Dozens of them bleeding, painting the floor and the walls in a disturbing dark color.

Dozens of them exuding the disgusting smell of burnt metal and circuits.

From Stubbies to Medium-Bipeds, all of them lay unmoving, missing entire sections of their bodies, all of them sporting those brutal and animalistic wounds.

All of them dead by whatever inhabited this skyscraper.

Jackass was by no means a coward; She was among the few androids who could laugh at the face of a Titanic Goliath. A veteran from the machine wars that had seen anything the enemy had to offer… But this, this gruesome, bizarre and unnatural scene…

This sent shivers down her spine.

Her first thought was to turn around and flee, escaping from the thing that had created such a macabre scene. Run with her tail between her legs, run with tear-filled eyes, screaming like a demented lunatic, falling to her knees and begging White to rain fire and thunder upon that cursed place, hoping the atrocities found its painful demise at the hands of YoRHa's orbital strike…

But she didn't.

Instead, she ignored the slaughter as much as she could and climbed to the next floor, ignoring the pleading voices in her mind, telling her to run away from this haunted place.

The next floor was much like the same… But instead of machines, Androids were sprawled across the room. This time, Jackass had to cover her mouth as she gazed upon the open ribcage of a B series, exposing her mechanical components as cockroaches fleed from the new arrival.

What was the meaning of this?

Why were these YoRHa operatives here?

Those didn't look like old units lost in past battles. No, these were brand new androids, outfitted with cutting edge battle armor and the most powerful and advanced weapons in YoRHa's arsenal, the kind of soldiers you would see fending off the most dangerous monstrosities sent by the machines… And the kind of units White said they could not afford to send in this mission.

"Wh-what the hell is this?!" She whispered, her hands trembling as a terrifying white noise began filling her mind "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" She yelled in hopelessness, clutching her head as the noise intensified.

The smart part of her mind told her about White's lies but that whisper was quickly drowned as her mind tried to decipher the nature of the enemy that had caused this: Even by machine standards, this was far from normal: The Machine Lifeforms had gotten extremely disturbing with their tactics and strategies, knowing full well they would not defeat the androids with brute force. They had grown smart and clever, evolving in the most unusual field of warfare and abuse any advantage given to them…

But this, this was not something the machines would do… Or so Jackass wanted to believe.

To think the Machine lifeforms had degraded to pure savagery, even against their own. The Rogue did not want to think about the cause of such behavior or the immediate consequences in the Resistance and YoRHa.

Her eyes tracked the corpses until her eyes stopped on what was left of an android's head: It used to be a B series with blonde hair and red eyes. Now, it was missing its right eye, with deep slashes across its scalp… But even with its state, Jackass could still recognize the rictus of pure fear in its eyes.

It had died afraid and in utter hopelessness.

Just like the rest of her sisters.

...

A sharp screech got her out of her thoughts, making Jackass jolt in shock. She trained her pistol again, his hands trembling as she waited.

It was faint, but she was able to hear something from above, on the next floor.

She looked down and gazed one last time at the pile of YoRHa corpses before gulping and walking towards the stairs.

For better or for worse, The Resistance still needed that information… Especially if YoRHa wasn't able to fight this new enemy: Things were already bad for Anemone and the least she needed was some other monstrosity running rampant in City Ruins without her knowledge. Jackass would leave her questioning to White for later: The Commander had clearly lied to them and even though the Rogue did not want to think about it, Jackass knew all of this was a set-up… But for what reason? She would look for answers later.

For now, staying alive and getting the info was more important.

Her feet carried her to the next floor, cringing as every step she took caused a small sound, the entire floor utterly stained with oil… But as she ascended, something changed: Instead of the familiar scent of oil, her nose caught a metallic odor, a potent rusted smell she had felt a few times in her life. Slowly, her ears picked up the distinct sound of something squishy being torn apart and crushed, releasing droplets of a thick liquid and falling on the floor, creating a sick cacophony of fleshy and wet noise she had never heard in her entire life.

Finally, she was able to see the next floor… And in the shadows cast by the sun, she witnessed the beginning of the nightmare that would chase her and every single one of the androids until the end of times.

* * *

**Alien Isolation - Transit delay**

* * *

The first thing she saw was the milky blank eyes of the dead deer: These lacked any sort of iris or pupil, simply displaying a disturbing white that seemed to hypnotize Jackass with its macabre emptiness. The next thing she noticed was the blood: It wasn't her first time seeing the deep crimson liquid as she had dispatched a few annoying animals in the past… But to see it splattered all over the place, running along the nooks and crannies of the floor, and even dripping from the ceiling. What used to be a minor thing she could easily ignore had become a completely terrifying sight that would haunt her as long as she was alive.

And then, there was it…

It was a machine… Or at least, it used to be: The bronze tint of its body told her that much. But that was as far as similarities go. The machines and this thing couldn't be any more different: It was tall and lanky, lacking the robustness every machine lifeform had: Its limbs were thin, with sharp edges and hollow sections, a pair of sharp claws and talons adorned its hands and feet, letting her know it was the culprit of the massacre she had seen before.

But despite all these unnatural characteristics, there was only one single reason why Jackass found this thing absolutely disturbing and wrong: It wasn't completely inorganic: Large patches of rotten meat were attached to its body.

With utter horror, Jackass watched as the thing lowered itself a top of the deer corpse and 'Bit' a large chunk of meat, its saw-like fangs easily tearing it from the body and swallowing it easily. After that, something unusual happened: Red static suddenly originated from its body, covering the chunk of meat, making it stick to its 'bones'.

Jackass felt herself falter as her eyes gazed upon this unholy union of flesh and metal, knowing full well the machines had nothing to do with its creation. This was an existence that was never meant to walk on this land, an abomination that went against everything she knew. A creature that would consume the Resistance, YoRHa, and even the Machine Lifeforms in its bizarre and horrifying form.

The Rogue knew she had to run away now; It didn't matter if she had evidence, Anemone must know about this so they would prepare accordingly: Abandon the camp at City Ruins and get away from this cursed land as fast as they could… This was not something they could fight, this was not something they could stop. Jackass knew the only thing the Resistance could do to survive was to run away and never look back. Whatever YoRHa had planned for this creature was none of her concern, it would be fruitless and ultimately spell their end alongside the Machine Lifeforms.

Slowly, Jackass began to back away, her eyes and gun never leaving the monster as it continued to feast on the deer. She was tempted to grab one of the grenades she had on her pouches and use it to see if she could kill it right away but she decided against the idea: Returning to camp was her top priority and any action to jeopardize her main objective would be avoided.

But as she was pondering over these thoughts, her right boot slipped due to the combination of blood and oil staining the stairs. She cursed under her breath and managed to recompose herself before she lost her footing completely. She eyed her foot before she returned her gaze to the monster… And was greeted by a pair of red dots staring right at her as blood dripped from its maw.

Out of pure experience, Jackass threw herself forward immediately, dodging the claws of the monster by a few inches. She rolled on the blood-stained floor, and without missing a beat, she dashed towards the next set of stairs right in front of her. Behind, she heard the creature scrambled to its feet and chased after her, its claws and talons clacking as they hit the floor.

A loud and haunting screech filled his ears as she ran for her life.

* * *

**Dead Space 2 - Administering control**

* * *

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" The rogue screamed as she ascended yet again, the creature hot on her heels, screeching and hissing every time the small android managed to escape from its deadly grasp. "Get away from me!"

Out of pure desperation, the android fished a torch from her pouches and quickly threw it behind her; An annoyed growl told her the monster had stopped on its tracks, probably blinded briefly by the sudden explosion of red light. Of course, such an advantage didn't last long as the creature was once again following her steps, its unholy voice roaring in anger.

"What do I do?! What do I do?!" Jackass muttered as her eyes scanned the new floor, desperately looking for a solution to her precarious situation. But the more she looked, the more horrified she got: Countless animal corpses in various states of putrefaction littered the other floors, accompanied by the disgusting stench of rotten flesh and death, bizarre symbols and emblems drawn in blood seemed to shine, slowly tampering with her perception, filling her with dread and hopelessness.

"Shit!" She cursed under her breath, shaking her head to focus "This was not supposed to happen! I can't die like this! I can't die lik-" Suddenly, she was thrown to the side as the monster finally managed to nail her down. She hit the wall roughly and collapsed on the ground "Agh… Son of a bitch!" She groaned in pain, somewhat happy that blow hadn't deal any major damage to her body.

All that happiness died when a cold claw closed on her throat, making the android gag under its grasp. Suddenly, Jackass' nose was assaulted by the stench of putrid flesh, rotten secretions, and a few maggots falling on her face. Her hands struggled against the claws but it did nothing, her assailant far stronger than anything she could muster.

And as she fought, her field of vision was filled with the face of the monster chasing after her:

It was a machine lifeform.

It was the same round and dumb-looking face she and every android had come to hate; The same stupid visage composed of two small dots on a bronze sphere. It wasn't the kind of face that would inspire fear or anger in any being… But after centuries of fighting an endless army of soldiers bearing the same face, Jackass had learned that apparently harmless face held a nasty and clever tenacity, pushing the machines to evolve in bizarre forms to fight the might of the androids.

By all means, the face of the monster was the same as the machines… At least at the beginning:

Slowly, the face of the machine cracked vertically, revealing the maw of a beast, with countless rows of sharp fangs; Droll, oil, and blood fell as the monster screeched like an unleashed banshee, filling her face and nose with the stench of putrefaction. But while the beast was busy roaring, Jackass unsheathed her short blade and quickly jammed it in its neck, causing the creature to yelp in pain and throw her away from it.

The android hit the ground hard but without missing a beat, she got up and continued her mad dash towards the highest floor.

"What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Her screams were followed by the disturbing howls of the creature, roaring in anger, promising a slow and gory death, if the corpses on the lower floors were anything to go by.

As she ascended, Jackass sorted the scenarios laid before her… And each one of them ended with her joining the increasing pile of corpses and scrap on the floors below. In reality, she was berating herself for ascending further, knowing she would reach the peak at one point, completely isolating herself from any possible escape route…

Well, there was always the alternative: Throw herself over the edge and accept a quick and painless death.

It was certainly better than whatever that atrocity had planned for her.

More sooner than later, she was greeted by the warm light of the sun, announcing she had run out of time: She looked left and right disoriented, knowing full well there should have been a couple more floors before she reached the rooftop but by the looks of her surroundings, it seemed like the skyscraper had lost its upper floors somewhere in the past, stopping at the size of eighty-nine stories. Quite impressive, considering how old the structure seemed to be.

At this height, the sounds from below did not reach the android, and Jackass was enveloped by an oppressing silence, magnifying the unholy screeching and growling of the creature.

Jackass cursed and walked towards the edge, hoping there was something she could use to climb down; To her dismay, there was a single flimsy vine precariously resisting the powerful gales of wind, keeping itself attached to the floor by a slim green thread: The Rogue examined the vine and was fairly sure it would not be able to hold her for even a single second before it snapped. Even though she was a girl and there were certain things she would rather not disclose out of embarrassment, she was no fool: As an android, she was quite heavy for someone her size; And even though she was able to move with fluency and grace, there was no way she could defy the laws of physics: That vine would never support her entire weight… So that left her with two choices at the moment.

Throw herself at the abyss…

Or wait for the creature.

In all honesty, Jackass was not keen on killing herself… Not like this, at least: She would happily forfeit her existence doing something grandiose and heroic.

But to end her own life just because she was scared? That was something her stupid pride would not allow.

And of course, getting slaughtered by that monster was a big and fat Nope.

So the only real choice left was simple:

She needed to kill that thing.

The Rogue breathed deeply to calm her nerves and shaking limbs: Even if she had made up her mind, she was still deathly afraid of that monster: That disturbing fusion of meat and machine, a completely bizarre and wrong concept she would have never believed possible. But with no other option left, she opted to at least not die like a coward.

And deep inside, Jackass really hoped she could kill it… Because otherwise, there was no way the Resistance could succeed where she had failed.

Shaking her head, she decided to do something productive instead of dwelling in depressing thoughts: Patting her pouches and pockets, she found most of her supplies had survived her first encounter with the creature: Her explosives, a flashbang, and two fragmentation grenades, looked fine; Her combat knife was a tad bent to the side but it hadn't lost its edge, she still had four shots in her pistol plus another magazine but she doubted it would do more than just piss the thing off; she doubted the trick with the torches would work with the sun present but it was worth the try; As for medical supplies, her antivirus vial had cracked during her scuffle and the sight of the dipping liquid made her curse under her breath. Her other medical supplies were just fine but if she caught whatever that thing had, the best she could apply to herself was a bullet into her brain.

She sighed again, kneeled and trained her gun at the stairs…

And she waited in utter silence as the chilling shrieks of the monster drew closer and closer with each passing moment. On more than one occasion, Jackass was tempted to simply give up and choose the easy way out, but by gritting her teeth until it hurt, she was able to keep herself in place.

She was too stubborn to die like this.

Quickly, the cackling and shrieks intensified until she was almost able to hear it right by her side.

And just when she least expected it, the creature emerged from the shadows, roaring in anger.

Without a shadow of doubt, Jackass pulled the trigger and unleashed the four remaining bullets in the magazine, hitting the creature right in its left eye with deadly accuracy. As she had expected, the bullets did little to nothing, only managing to stagger the creature briefly before it charged again. But those precious moments allowed Jackass to roll to the side, barely managing to dodge a set of claws that would have definitely cut her in half. As she was rolling, she ejected the spent magazine and jammed a fresh one; And once she recomposed herself, she dashed to the side, firing her pistol as much as possible. The bullets pinged uselessly against the metal skeleton of the creature and buried deep on its flesh, causing small torrents of rotten goo to emerge from the putrefied meat, making the Rogue wrinkle her nose in disgust.

Recovering from its initial jump, the creature turned around and once again pounced on the android; With little to no time to react, Jackass felt herself hit the ground hard and choke as the claws of the beast once again closed on her throat. As quickly as she could, she grabbed her combat knife and thrust it forward just as the beast came down on her with its maw wide open: The blade pierced its left eye, cracking it and making the creature double over and howl in pain as it attempted to pull out the knife with its humongous claws.

Taking advantage of this, Jackass rolled away from the creature's grasp and pulled out one of her homemade grenades; The small sphere looked rather rudimentary but the Rogue knew it would deal a substantial amount of damage if used properly. She pulled the pin and dashed towards the creature, counting the seconds in her head; The monster must have heard her because it lashed wildly, swinging its razor-sharp claws as fast as it could.

Ducking under a particularly heavy swing, the android jammed her hand in one of the fleshy mounds sticking to the creature, cringing in disgust at how squishy and soft they were. Sadly for her, she hadn't been fast enough and was unceremoniously backhanded and sent flying like a ragdoll, she hit the floor hard and skid across until she stopped at the edge of the abyss. Jackass wasn't sure if androids could barf but as she watched just how high she was, she was invaded by ranging vertigo, making her stomach twist and turn in nausea. Out of reflex, she pushed herself away from the edge and turned to see the creature finally pulling out the knife in its eye, a trail of oil trickling down from the wound.

It sent one last angry glare at the android before it was engulfed in an inferno of fire and shrapnel. Its mid-section was blown away by the force of the explosion, his hideous legs ceased to exist and its upper half was thrown away, landing at the edge of the rooftop.

* * *

**The music ends here**

* * *

Jackass watched in silence the remains of the creature as a thin rain of blood and oil fell. She found herself frozen, drinking in the mangled mess the monster had become, half expecting to see it simply get up and regenerated its missing limbs out of thin air… To her immense relief, such a thing didn't happen and she finally allowed herself to breathe in relief. She fell to the ground and watched the blue sky above her.

"What the fuck did you fight, White?" She asked, "And why did you send me here?"

Now that she was no longer in danger, countless questions began burning away her mind, dark theories and hypotheses filled her with dread and the voices of the traitors all of a sudden made sense. Jackass didn't want to admit it… But everything she had seen so far only reinforced the fact that YoRHa was hiding something. The Rogue was no fool and had already seen the hints a while ago but chose to remain in blissful ignorance. White was her friend and Jackass respected her deeply; She knew the android would do anything to stop this war and protect them from the machines.

But now…

Now Jackass didn't know what to believe.

The evidence was there; She could take the monster with her and show Anemone the truth; Show her White had lied… And then what? For better or for worse, The Resistance needed YoRHa just as much as YoRHa needed the Resistance: The former protected the Latter, and the latter offered intel and resources to the former. It was a symbiotic relationship crafted throughout years of struggle and sacrifice. Could Jackass truly break that kind of bond? No, she couldn't.

Without YoRHa, the Resistance would not stand a chance against the sheer bulk of the Machines Lifeforms. Heck, if even YoRHa had trouble controlling them, what could Anemone and her accomplish with their minuscule resources and poorly maintained forces.

Not to mention YoRHa didn't exactly forgive treason: The stories of entire battalions chasing after a few deserters were legendary and Jackass simply didn't see herself running away for the rest of her life; Sure, she liked to adventure into the unknown but there was nothing fun about watching over her shoulder every five seconds.

No, Jackass couldn't let Anemone or anybody else know about this mess. While she would be able to escape, there were several androids in the Resistance that couldn't even walk by themselves. Let alone fight against YoRHa.

No, Jackass would keep everything she had seen a secret. And even though it filled her with disgust, she was going to lie; She would to tell Anemone nothing happened, she would tell everyone she found nothing… She would tell White she had failed her mission… And that arrogant and hypocrite android would smile smugly at her, knowing no matter how much she hated it, she would always be under White's boot, just like it was meant to be from the very beginning.

"Fuck you…" She hissed with gritted teeth "Fuck you, White…" She got up and walked towards the fallen monster "You backstabbing, two-faced bitch…" And without being able to control herself, she began stomping on the corpse "Fuck you… Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!" Jackass was angry, livid, utterly furious and there was no way to stop the flood of negative emotions as she surrendered herself to that intoxicating, yet painful sensation "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I! HATE! YOU!" A red blur began growing at the edges of her field of vision but the android couldn't care less, too consumed in her own anger to notice red lighting dancing around her "DAMMIT ALL! DAMMIT ALL! DAMMIT ALL!" And she continued unloading every ounce of pent up frustration, releasing years upon years of murderous feelings and dark thoughts.

And even though the corpse of the monster had been reduced to a fine paste on the floor, she kept screaming and wailing like a deranged beast, lost in her hopelessness and utter despair

**000000000000000000000000**

"Shit…" Jackass grunted in pain as she almost fell down the stairs for the umpteenth time "I really need to watch my temper." She added bitterly.

It had been a couple of hours before the android was able to reign over her anger and control herself; As she watched the result of her rage-infused episode, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed with her tantrum: The once scary monster had become a paste on the floor, utterly worthless for either White's mission or Jackass' own purposes.

The Rogue chastised herself for her immaturity: She was not some newly manufactured android that couldn't control themselves in the heat of the moment. She had fought across several machine wars and had remained calm through many life-threatening situations.

To think she would simply lose her cool… If it weren't because her hands and legs already hurt like hell, she would have already slapped herself several times to ensure she could rid herself of her own stupidity.

"Fucking hell…" The Rogue mused, slowly descending to the next floor "No wonder White played me for so long; I am a goddamn idiot."

The last remark caused her to cringe… But it didn't make it any less true. And although it was painful, Jackass had to accept it and live with it.

Instead of feeling depressed, the Rogue decided to sort out her options: It wasn't helpful at all, but now Jackass knew White and YoRHa could not be trusted. Which meant she had to do something to let the others see said truth. And although that in itself was hard enough, she also had to somehow design a plan to protect the Resistance from YoRHa's fury once the cat is out of the bag.

For now, she could play the part of the fool and lie. Of course, White would know but so long as Anemone remained in the dark, Jackass was sure White wouldn't try anything on anyone besides herself; The Rogue couldn't wait for the day when White woke up one fine day needing a new teapot. Why? Nobody gave a damn but so long as she wanted that stupid teapot, she would look at her naughty list and choose Jackass to be repurposed into fine china.

"For the glory of mankind, and their hot and tasty beverages…" Jackass recited begrudgingly.

Shaking her head, she decided to forget about her grim future and focus on what she had found: Clearly, the machine she killed had been afflicted by a virus, that much made sense for the android: The problem laid in its downright terrifying behavior and transformation: As far as she was concerned, machines never really bothered with animals. There have been sightings of machines interacting with said creatures but those never escalated to this point: She had never heard about a machine actively killing and… Devouring the flesh of an animal or even wearing it as if it were its own.

The second problem was the monstrous transformation.

From way back, Machines were known for taking bizarre battle forms when fighting YoRHa and the resistance; Jackass herself had seen a few strange specimens across her career: Worm-like machines that burrowed in the ground, single balls floating in the air with a drill a top of their heads, quadrupedal units resembling deer, etc. It was not uncommon to see machines evolve into something weird. This transformation though, it didn't look like something the machines would actively allow: It looked more like corruption, degrading themselves into a far more frightening entity. If her suspicions were correct, then whatever had caused that transformation did not belong to either YoRHa or the Machines Lifeforms. Or at least, that was what she wanted to believe.

As she descended to another floor, her foot slipped and unable to grab onto something, she fell unceremoniously and rolled down the stairs until she hit the floor hard.

"Shit…" She yelped in pain, feeling every part of her body aching in pain "I fucking hate this place…"

Slowly and carefully, she managed to get up, hissing in pain as her feet protested. She bit down the tears in her eyes and breathed deeply, trying her damn best to not become a sobbing mess, a terribly hard quest, considering her current situation: Finding out their only ally didn't give a damn about them, chased by some flesh-eating demonic machine, almost maiming herself in a fit of anger…

Truly, this day couldn't get any worse.

But it did…

It got worse…

So much worse…

Once she was standing, Jackass noticed something that froze her in place completely: Bundled on top of the dead deer, she watched in horror as the corpses of the androids she had seen before bit on the rotten meat and proceeded to swallow it, darkened blood running down their mouths, fingers digging and tearing chunks of flesh, eliciting unnatural animal-like bellows as they feasted on the corpse. The once pristine and beautiful faces of the YoRHa androids were now stained and cracked; their gorgeous and attractive bodies had been deformed, fused with the rotting animal flesh… And the sounds, the sounds reverberate in her ears as the androids kept consuming the corpse.

Unable to stop herself, Jackass doubled over began dry heaving, gagging on her own spit. She coughed, a sharp pain extending all over her chest and stomach as her body tried to replicate what any human would have done in her situation but failing due to the lack of fluids in her body and in exchange, subjecting her to a pain no other android had suffered before.

In response, the corrupted androids looked away from the corpse and focused their dead and crimson eyes on her, watching her actions with nothing but an unnatural hunger plaguing their eyes. Slowly, the shambling corpses rose and stalked towards the fallen android, their bodies cracked and festering gooey liquid and minced flesh, gurgling moans escaping their lips as they marched in disarray.

"N-No! No, no, no no! Get away from me!" The android yelled, throwing herself back as the corrupted corpses slowly approached, ignoring her pleas. The unwilling ignored her cries and threw themselves at her

With a loud scream, the android dodged to the side and began crawling upstairs, her mind clouded by fear and not caring about anything but run away from the creatures that used to be like her. But just as she reached the top of the steps, a terrifying sight stopped her completely…

There was another one: Another creature of nightmares, another one of those atrocities wearing flesh over their metal bodies, the creature observed the android with its small crimson eyes, staring at her blankly while the stench of its body filled Jackass' soul with hopelessness. Slowly, the creature closed its claw over her neck and lifted her until her face was right in front of its own; Jackass was able to trace every nook and cranny in its face… And suddenly, its face split, revealing a maw filled with sharp fangs, drooling darkened blood, spit and oil, filling her nostrils with the disgusting scent of putrefaction and death… But instead of killing her right there, the maw curved into a crazed smirk…

And the creature let her go.

Jackass felt time slow down as she fell, her wide and terrified eyes watching the creature smile evilly as she descended to her doom: She flailed her arms wildly in a vain attempt to get a hold onto anything that would stop her… But there was nothing to stop her from falling.

And eventually, her back hit the ground roughly.

Dozens of hands surrounded her and the android found herself screaming in hopelessness as the unwilling dragged her to the center of the room,

"NO! NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! STOP! STOP!" Her cries fell on deaf ears as the unwilling pinned her down, the android struggled against her captors but both fatigue and pain made her attempts pathetic at most "PLEASE! SOMEONE! PLEASE, SAVE ME!" She screamed for help.

But nobody came.

Suddenly, she felt something crawl over her chest and watched in horror as a small "S" series climbed on her body, his face cracked and covered in blood. Jackass felt his cold hands grab her face and stop her sad attempts to free herself. Slowly, the creature began inching closer and closer to her own face, opening and closing his mouth, revealing a mound of minced meat deep in his throat.

"Please… Please, help me…" The android cried helplessly as her body gave up, simply closing her eyes and accepting her fate…

…

…

But the pain never came.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw the "S" series completely frozen over her, his mouth wide open, letting a trail of darkened blood and small chunks of minced flesh fall on top of her face. The android stared at the unmoving unwilling, unsure of what to do now; Her terrified eyes moved left and right and she realized that every single one of the creatures had suffered from the same: Frozen in place, unmoving, static, like terrible gargoyles obeying some demonic will. In a single moment, Jackass felt once again helpless: Not because she was surrounded by these creatures but because once again, she was faced with a situation she couldn't comprehend: Why had these flesh-eating monsters stopped their macabre ritual? Why was she allowed to live any further this horrid agony? Why couldn't they just end her suffering once and for all? She was already tired of this nightmare; She didn't care how, the android only wanted everything to end…

And in that hopeless and absolute silence, Jackass heard it.

Footsteps.

* * *

**Doom 2016 OST - At Doom's gate**

* * *

Suddenly, the unwilling began twitching erratically, foam and other fluids escaped their mouths, scratching their own necks and screaming like deranged beasts; They let her go but Jackass refused to move, terrified they would remember she was there. The creatures stood, twitching and trembling uncontrollably, their bodies and limbs twisting into unnatural angles, their dull eyes shining with malicious crimson light.

At the top of the stairs, the corrupted machine was roaring in fury, its claws slashing at the walls in anger, red static surrounding him completely, making the mounds of flesh in its body quiver and grow in size.

Jackass didn't know what was going on and at this point, she didn't want to: Her whole world had been shattered to pieces and rebuilt into a nightmarish hell, it was a miracle she hadn't broken down under the stress and horror she was living. Still, in the middle of the maddening howls and shambling corpses, she saw a ray of hope:

A humongous and green suit of armor carrying what appeared to be some sort of white weapon. The being was just there, watching the freak show with his cold-blue visor, concealing whatever he was feeling or thinking… But whatever it was, Jackass was sure it couldn't be anything good.

Suddenly, one of the corrupted androids simply launched itself against the armored newcomer, its mouth wide open as it screeched unnaturally, pieces of minced rotten flesh flying out of its mouth, attacking out of primal instinct and fury.

In the blink of an eye, the corpse was reduced to mere bits and pieces, a thin rain of gore and blood falling across the remaining corrupted androids, showering them with the sickening red liquid.

From that point, everything became a blur: Blue bolts of plasma flying everywhere, easily melting the former YoRHa android's platting; heat waves cutting bodies in half, reducing them into scorched pieces of burnt metal; torn limbs used as makeshift weapons, discarded as soon as they meet their target; cracked skulls and open thorax, displaying what little was left of the former androids; blood pooling under her feet and hands, the smell of putrefaction flooding her nostrils; the shrieks and screams piercing her ears, the white noise in her head was replaced with a deafening furious roar.

And then, she was staring at the monster that had chased and tortured her to no end; The machine look-alike fused with flesh. It pounced on the green berserker with its unnatural speed. But the armored being easily smacked it down, as if the monstrous abomination was nothing but an annoying fly. With terrible and practiced mastery, the berserker began to systematically tear each and every single one of its limbs, eliciting an angry and pained roar from the creature: Legs and arms were discarded like common trash, thrown away without a single care in the world.

He walked around the flailing creature, his cold-blue visor observing every twitch of the deformed monster in interest as if he was a child watching a pathetic cockroach die. And then, he stood right in front of it, lifted his foot…

And proceeded to crush its demented and horrifying face with ease.

The nightmare that had terrified and haunted Jackass all this time; The monster bound to destroy the fragile balance in the world; The creature neither the Machine Lifeforms, nor YoRHa, or the Resistance could hope to fend off…

It was gone.

**Music ends here**

Jackass simply sat there, watching what was left of the monsters splattered across the room, the scent of charred flesh filling her nostrils, soaked to the bone in rotten blood and other disgusting fluids, her mouth wide open in disbelief, her blank eyes staring at the armored entity that had saved her.

In any other situation, she would have already run to hug and praise her savior… But for some reason, she was frozen in place, rooted to the ground, a familiar cold shiver running down her spine: She knew this to be true, she knew it was inevitable, she knew this was not her savior.

This was her executioner.

The green berserker was done examining the corpse of the creature and turned to see Jackass; The Rogue flinched as the cold-blue visor focused on her, feeling the foreigner scan her completely, measuring her worth, calculating the best way to finish her off. Slowly, he lumbered her way, pulling out the same white rifle, the artifact humming to life as if it were eager to surrender itself into carnage yet again.

He stood right in front of her, his towering height making her feel pathetic and weak. In a smooth motion, he aimed the rifle at her…

Time stopped for Jackass, the white noise filling her ears once again, unable to even attempt to cover or run away: She was tired of everything, tired of feeling weak, tired of being a marionette, tired of this pointless war

It was not fair.

She had done her best, she had sacrificed so much, she had survived everything the machines threw at her: Entire armies of mechanical lifeforms, bizarre monstrosities created deep in the machine factories, bombardments capable of reshaping the physical form of planet earth, deadly infections corrupting and infecting even the famed S series… And this was her end: The great Jackass was going to be killed like an animal, cornered and scared, trembling and with no way out, taking the secrets she had discovered to the depths of her grave….

Just like White had planned.

The smug smile of that arrogant bitch made her grit her teeth in anger

If this was her end, she was going to face it like a true member of the Resistance: Defiant until the end. She looked directly at the visor, baring her teeth in challenge, her eyes never blinking or showing any sign of fear. Jackass was determined not to cry in her final moments, to show this monster she was not afraid of him, to die honorably like a true soldier from the Human empire.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, surrounded by silence and what was left of the corrupted machine and androids… And all of a sudden, the armored titan lowered his weapon and offered a helping hand to the Rogue.

The android observed the berserker for a moment, not sure what to think of his actions: He was dangerous, even more so than the machine lifeforms or this new breed of horrifying enemies, capable of fighting and killing them quite easily, something YoRHa and the Machine lifeforms had failed to do. He was ruthless and cruel, attacking to make his enemies suffer as much as possible before killing them without mercy.

He was a monster in every form…

And yet, she didn't know why but she felt she could trust him.

Slowly, she grabbed his hand and got up. Even while standing, the armored berserker towered over her, probably as tall and broad as a medium-biped. While his face was featureless aside from the cold-blue visor, he possessed android like-limbs and body type, making him slightly more unnerving to look at than any machine she had seen before.

But despite this, she could feel a certain gentleness: It didn't feel fabricated or like a faded copy. It felt real, authentic, something she and the rest of the androids had been craving for: Slowly, her vision misted and without being able to help herself, her arms closed around his waist. She remained there, completely frozen in place unable to understand why she had done any of this but soon enough, her worries eased up when she felt a humongous hand patting her back clumsily.

Jackass did not know why, but she was unable to stop the tears: Her worries, her fear, her anger, her hopelessness. Everything suddenly melted as she sobbed quietly.

"Thank you…" She whispered, "Thank you…"

For once in a long while, she felt happy she was alive.

The Doom Slayer was annoyed the android was alive.

Little thing had suddenly cried herself to sleep and he had to carry her all the way down; Not something quite taxing but it had considerably slowed his progress. In hindsight, he should have killed her: It looked like the less problematic choice and something that had always worked for him in the past.

Then again, things were quite different from the good old days.

Why had he decided to spare the android? Pretty simple: He had been thinking.

At first, he believed the androids were the forces used by the humans but then he remembered one of the most important rules across his journey: The more something tried to resemble a human, the less you could trust it. Maybe the androids had chosen their gorgeous appearances to lure out unsuspecting humans and kill them with ease, maybe it was a tactic to demoralize the troops by disguising themselves as fallen soldiers. Whatever the case was, there was some hidden motive he had yet to notice.

As for the other robots, the Marine had no idea how to deal with them: They were susceptible to Argent energy just as much as the androids, which made them equally bad in his books. A part of him rationalized they were the enemy, due to how they looked and acted, but another was telling him not to judge a book by its cover.

It was a complete headache…

The Doom Slayer sighed tiredly, already wishing he was back in hell where things were simple: Shoot this, kill that, rip that baron, tear this imp, slaughter some knights, bludgeon a few mancubus, etc.

Simple things for a simple man like himself.

Instead, he was stuck in who knows where, trying to figure out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys, so he could finally warm humans about the imminent demonic invasion he had been fighting eons ago.

Oh, and he had to do all of this while being mute.

Fantastic.

And to top it all, he now had to deal with a new faction: This android.

Sure, she looked like the ones he had destroyed a while ago but there were some glaring differences between the two of them: For once, while the two resulted pleasing to the sight, this android was considerably unkept; Dirty face, disheveled face, ragged clothes. It looked as if she hadn't received proper maintenance in a long while. Clearly, the androids from before and this one were not the same… But why?

The Doom slayer grumbled, frustrated he was getting nowhere with all these possible scenarios.

Still, he would stick with this one, at least for now: He couldn't explain why but there was something about her that made her feel… Authentic.

Just like how Vega had acted in his final moments.

He couldn't really explain why he felt this way; He just knew it to be true.

How annoying.

"Uhm… Excuse me?" A soft voice called. The Marine looked down and saw a pair of black eyes boring into him, uncertainty and fear clear in them "I think I can walk by myself…" She added sheepishly; The Doom Slayer stared at her before swiftly ignoring her request "M-Mister…?" She tried to insist but the Marine tunned her off.

While he didn't find any pleasure in babysitting a robot, it was a necessary sacrifice if he wanted to get answers from this Android; So far, she hadn't tried to kill him, which was a huge improvement in his books in comparison to the last encounters he had with the other factions, and above all else, she was wearing some decent clothes.

Not some shameless skin-tight suit or a skirt with high-heels.

Seriously, who the hell fights in a goddamn catsuit and frigging high-heels?

He was so caught up in his musings he didn't realize they were already on the first floor of the building: What a surprise, it seems his favorite skill, otherwise known as 'Ignore-useless-bullshit-and-focus-on-killing-demons' was still active, even though he could no longer hear the Seraphim's chant.

Well, he could no longer avoid… 'Interacting' with her: If he wanted answers, he needed to be nice: Slowly and gently, he let go of her. The android gave him a peculiar glance before she walked towards a twisted trunk and retrieved a backpack, she slung it over her shoulders and once she was sure it was secure, she turned and stared at him.

The Marine stared back, not sure on what to do next: If he could talk, he would have already demanded her to take him to her leaders, but as things stood, the best he could do was follow her to her base of operations.

But for some reason, she was just there, staring at him and not saying or doing anything, which for some strange reason, was unnerving to him. Maybe if he projected his bloodlust, the robot would run away scared but then again, he wasn't sure if a machine could understand what fear even meant. Oh well, it was worth the tr-

"Uhm, would you like to come with me?" She suddenly asked softly. The Marine stared back for a few seconds before he nodded "I see! Then, follow me!" She said with a bright smile, grabbing his hand and guiding him outside.

It was weird; Normally, people would actively avoid him after witnessing what he was capable of… Then again, this was an android he was dealing with: It was understandable a machine would not react as a human being would.

He found it curious… But did it truly matter? Not really; At the end of the day, he didn't have allies: There were enemies and there were those who stayed out of his way. Anything else was irrelevant and unworthy of his attention; A waste of time.

For now, he would give her and her group the benefit of the doubt and see for himself what they had to offer.

Surely enough, it couldn't be worse than Hell.

Right?


End file.
